THE WORKER and WORK SERIES 



THE PRIMARY 
WORKER AND WORK 




BV MARION THOMAS 

545 




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The Worker and Work Series 

HENRY H. MEYER, Editor 



The Primary 
Worker and Work 



By 
MARION THOMAS 




THE ABINGDON PRESS 
NEW YORK CINCINNATI 






Copyright 1920, by 
MARION THOMAS 



: E3 26 1020 



The Bible text used in this volume is taken from the American Standard 
Edition of the Revised Bible. Copyright, 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, 
and is used by permission. 



©CI.A565019 



CONTENTS 

chapter page 

Laborers Together with God 5 

I. New Teacher's First Sunday 9 

II. An Hour with a Skilled Teacher 15 

IIL Margaret and Norma, Stanley, Leonardo, and 

Victor 22 

IV. The Primary Child in the Making 30 

V. The Primary Child a^ He Is . 38 

VI. The Primary Child in the Sunday School 46 

VII. That the Child May Become 52 

VIII. The Primary Course of Study 57 

IX. Every Child Loves a Story 62 

X. Word-Picturing 67 

XI. The Technique of Story-Telling 72 

XII. Uses of Pictures in Primary Teaching 77 

XIII. Helping the Child to Make the Lesson His 

Own 84 

XIV. Concerning the Choice of Materials and 

Forms of Handwork 89 

XV. Helping the Child to Build the Lesson into 

His Character 95 

XVI. Worship in the Primary Department 100 

XVII. How to Plan a Primary Program 105 

XVIII. A Primary Program for a Sunday in November 110 

XIX. A Primary Room and Its Equipment 115 

XX. How to Maintain Interest 123 

XXI. Promotions and Promotion Requirements 130 

XXII. The Primary Department and the Home 136 

XXIII. The Department Organized for Work 141 

XXIV. Where the Responsibility Rests 147 

Appendices 151-156 



LABORERS TOGETHER WITH GOD 

Those are important years of life which lie between the 
door of the kindergarten, as it swings outward, and the 
great portal which opens before the child at the reading 
age and bids him enter the sunny fields of story and verse 
and gather for himself at will. In these years when the 
child is six, seven, and eight years old, he is said to be 
in the primary period. It is here that elements of person- 
ality begin to manifest themselves and the foundations of 
individual character are laid. Here innate and inherited 
tendencies are seen, motive powers which lie behind the 
child's thought and action, requiring in some cases develop- 
ment, in others inhibition, but always to be reckoned with. 
In these years the child grows rapidly. New interests 
spring up, others that were absorbing a few months ago 
are cast aside. Each year of the developing life is a 
study in itself, and each individual child differs in many 
ways from any other of his group. It is said that it is 
impossible to teach a child whom one does not understand, 
and yet in our church schools it often happens that a 
young girl with no experience in dealing with children, 
and with no special preparation for teaching, is asked 
to take a class in the Primary Department. She accepts 
because of the urgency of the appeal, her desire to be of 
service, and her love for little children; but she soon finds 
that none of these excellent reasons for assuming the re- 

5 



€ LABORERS TOGETHER WITH GOD 

sponsibility furnish any light concerning the way in which 
it may be properly discharged. 

One purpose of this book is to help that inexperienced 
teacher to know the child, to see the gateways through 
which truth will most easily find access to his life, and to 
learn anew that she must herself be that which she wishes 
the child to become as she leads him to the Father. Again 
the book aims to give the teacher such a vision of her 
task that she will realize the wonderful opportunity it pre- 
sents, and desire to measure up to it fully. Then there is 
help for the teaching process. Through concrete examples 
the teacher is shown how, and by questions and suggestions 
is led to formulate principles. But the appeal of the book 
is not alone to new teachers. There is a charm and fresh- 
ness about the author's presentation which will make it 
of intense interest to all primary teachers, and none can 
read these chapters without gaining new inspiration and 
new points of view. 

The superintendent of the Primary Department also has 
a large responsibility. She must so organize her forces 
that the work will be done with the least friction and the 
greatest efficiency. The equipment of the room, a seem- 
ingly mechanical detail, is a vital factor in religious edu- 
cation, for each item, if wisely chosen, helps teachers and 
pupils to work rapidly and in comfort, or takes its place 
among the silent teachers which exert so powerful an 
influence over the child. 

To arrange the service of worship through which the 
child is led to praise and pray in a childlike way, and to 
plan the whole program of the hour so that there may 
be variety without confusion and perfect economy of time 



LABORERS TOGETHER WITH GOD 7 

— these and many other duties fall upon the shoulders 
of the superintendent. In this book valuable suggestions 
have been given to the executive head of the Primary 
Department by one who had herself met the administrative 
problems of that position and solved them successfully 
in the laboratory of experience. 

It has been said by one who knew Miss Thomas well 
that "everything she wrote was a model of religious 
pedagogy." That is unquestionably true, for technically 
her work measures up to the highest standards. But it is 
the spirit that giveth life, and her message will live be- 
cause it is animated by the beautiful Christian spirit which 
illumined all that she wrote. She appreciated the dignity 
of her calling as a laborer together with God, and the 
last lines she wrote as she laid down her pen and ceased 
at once to work and live are a call to all teachers to 
realize their high privilege as coworkers with him. So, 
she, being dead, yet speaketh, and though absent from us 
she still lives and will continue to live on earth in the 
thoughts and deeds of thousands of little children and their 
teachers. 

Henry H. Meyer. 
December 10, 1919. 



CHAPTER I 
NEW TEACHER'S FIRST SUNDAY 

In the Primary Department there was a class without 
a teacher. A young senior had volunteered to take it, and 
the children who were to be her pupils were awaiting her 
arrival on the first morning of what she afterward re- 
ferred to as her great adventure. They called her "New 
Teacher/' 

The class was somewhat unusual and had earned the 
reputation of being "difficult." There were both boys and 
girls in the class, and they were about eight years old. 
The boys disapproved of the presence of girls and some- 
times refused to sit next to them. The girls resented the 
boys' disapproval and treatment and were ready at all 
times to criticize their boyish manners, to ridicule them 
when they failed to make a perfect recitation, and to 
report their misconduct. Where there should have been 
cooperation and interest there were usually disorder and 
inattention — conditions which, if they prevail, make teach- 
ing impossible. But of these conditions New Teacher knew 
nothing. 

When she took the chair reserved for her at the head 
of the table she found herself looking into eyes of brown, 
blue, and gray — eight pairs of them. 

"The eyes of a child are keen, 
Keen as the lances of light," 

and New Teacher felt that the children looking so intently 
and questioningly at her were appraising her, estimating 
her strength and her weaknesses — and they were. She 



10 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

became fearful and doubtful — doubtful of the adequacy of 
her preparation for teaching, of her ability to teach, and of 
the wisdom of her decision. 

Swiftly New Teacher recalled her reasons for accepting 
the position — her unrest at being in a class where she 
was taught, her longing to discover her own powers and 
to test her own strength, her desire for service and to be 
about her Father's business, her love for little children, 
and, finally, the appeal that had been made for a teacher 
for a class badly in need of one. She wondered if all 
these reasons taken together were sufficiently strong to 
warrant her being in the position in which she found 
herself. She could not decide. 

These thoughts were undercurrents. She hoped that 
not, a ripple of them showed upon the surface, in her 
face or in her eyes. Even while she was thinking them 
and struggling to overcome her nervousness and timidity 
she was making the acquaintance of the children, telling 
her name and asking for theirs. 

The girls were shy. They gave their names so softly 
that it was with difficulty that they could be heard. The 
boys volunteered not only their names but the names of 
previous teachers and a short history of the class. It 
became evident that to "know something" and to be in- 
teresting while causing others to know are prerequisites 
for a teacher of eight-year-old children. The boys were 
continuing to tell what they liked to do and which Bible 
stories they liked best to hear when quiet music was heard, 
and it became evident that the session of the department 
was about to begin. 

1. The teacher's attitude and manner. New Teacher 
had a reverent spirit, and quickly she laid aside her pencil 
and the little notebook in which she had been recording 
the names of her pupils and became attentive. Watching 
her, the children followed her example. She did not real- 
ize it, but this act on the part of the boys indicated that 
they had discovered in her an element of strength. It had 



NEW TEACHER'S FIRST SUNDAY 11 

not been their custom to come to order quite so quickly, 
but there was something about New Teacher which made 
them feel that it was not prudent to play or to "show off" 
or to defy her on so short an acquaintance. It is not prob- 
able that they thought about what they were doing or 
why they were doing it. They acted on impulse, but that 
impulse had for its excitant an attitude, a manner, a force- 
fulness of character on the part of the teacher which 
made itself felt. 

2. The importance of preparation for teaching. 
Later the children tested her. It was during the lesson 
period. She had prepared her lesson the best she knew 
how. She had given much time and thought to it, but she 
had had no training for teaching. The textbook, given her 
by the superintendent, was not the first of the course or 
even the first of the year. It gave few suggestions for 
the preparation of a lesson. She had not known what to 
do with it. Consequently, her preparation was of her own 
originating. 

She thought back into her own childhood to recall how 
she was taught, but she could remember neither lessons nor 
methods. Hers was a memory for incidents, experiences, 
and pictures. She saw over again the pictures that hung 
on the Sunday-school walls; she remembered certain black- 
board illustrations. She recalled her fear of certain big 
boys who tried to trip her up as she passed down the 
room to her class, and certain big girls who teased her 
and made believe try on her gloves and take her muff. 
She realized that there was no help in reveries like these 
and prepared to teach her lesson in the way she had been 
taught in the class she had left. 

3. A first experience in teaching. When the lesson 
period arrived New Teacher opened the Bible that had 
been provided for her use and read the lesson passage. The 
children listened and seemed interested. Then she began 
to read each verse and to talk about it. Almost instantly 
she had occasion to wonder if she were teaching in the 



12 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

right way; for the girls began to talk to each other, and 
the boys slyly to kick and punch one another. When she 
asked for their attention, they looked curiously at her, 
as if she might be, after all, of the same pattern as several 
former teachers. At length she abandoned her plans, 
opened her textbook, and read the story given there. She 
had not supposed that a story was a lesson. She was 
surprised to see the children settle down to listen and at 
the effect that the story had upon them. Before she had 
finished it, the classes were called together for the clos- 
ing service of worship, and she promised to read the rest 
of it next Sunday. She wondered why the story had been 
a success and her lesson a failure. She realized that she 
did not know how to teach children, and that she must 
learn how if she was to be the teacher of these children 
or of any. 

She felt instinctively that to excuse herself or to apolo- 
gize for her poor lesson would be out of order, yet she 
wanted to justify herself in the eyes of the children — if 
this could be done. As she was bidding them good-by she 
said: "It will take a few weeks to become acquainted 
with each other, but I hope that we may be friends, and 
that you will be my helpers. You will help me, will you 
not?" As she put her question she looked into the eyes of 
the boy who had been the most trying. He had been 
restless, inattentive, and mischievous, but he squared his 
shoulders and answered, "Sure I will," and assumed a 
protective attitude. His look and manner said, "Oh, you're 
nothing but a girl after all and you don't know how to 
teach, but I'll take care of you." He turned the other 
boys right about face and said to them: "Stop your talk- 
ing and be quiet. Teacher is saying good-by"; and he left 
the class quietly, and the other boys did the same. The 
little girls smiled, and one of them said: "I hope you'll 
be here next week. Our other teacher did not come very 
often. Some Sundays we had no teacher at all." 

Just at that moment the superintendent of the Primary 



NEW TEACHER'S FIRST SUNDAY 13 

Department approached and asked, "How did you get along, 
and how do you like being a teacher ?" 

"I did not get along at all," answered New Teacher, 
looking over her shoulder to make sure that the children 
were gone and could not hear her. "I made a miserable 
failure of my lesson, for I did not know how to teach it. 
If I am to be a teacher — and I think that I want to be — 
you must help me." 

"I will," said the superintendent, "and this is what I 
will do. I will teach the class next week while you ob- 
serve and listen, and afterward we will talk together about 
what I did and why I did it, the best methods of teaching 
young children, and how to prepare a lesson." 

And with this promise to give her courage New Teacher 
went home. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. What do you consider is the purpose of the Sunday 
school? Answer this question fully and make a record of 
it in your notebook, that later you may, if you need to do 
so, revise or extend it. 

2. Because of this purpose what are the motives that 
should govern the decision to become a teacher? 

3. What, besides a high motive, is necessary to success- 
ful teaching? 

4. What, do you think, does "knowing how" include? 
Answer this question as fully as you can from your pres- 
ent knowledge and experience in teaching and make a 
record of your answer in your notebook, that you may 
have it for comparison and study as you progress in the 
course. 

5. Why was it, do you think, that New Teacher's lesson 
was a failure? 

6. If we must use different methods in teaching children 
of different ages, what particular study should a teacher- 
training course include? What are your reasons for spe- 
cializing in primary work? 



14 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

7. What bearing or relation has the teacher's personality, 
manner, and habits to the imitative impulse natural to 
children? 

8. In becoming a teacher in the Primary Department 
where there are certain rules and regulations for the chil- 
dren to observe, what command should the teacher lay 
upon herself, and why? 

9. Formulate a rule or command for yourself with regard 
to attendance, to the observance of all signals, to sup- 
plies for your class. The last should have two points to it. 



CHAPTEtt II 
AN HOUR WITH A SKILLED TEACHER 

The second Sunday New Teacher was in her place early, 
At first it was a question who was the more shy and con- 
strained, New Teacher or her pupils, but she tried to greet 
all with the same cordiality. Of the boy who looked as if 
he might answer if spoken to directly she asked questions 
about his school and school work. 1 She was a good listener, 
and because the children saw that she really was interested 
in their school life and play they began to talk freely. 
Girls and boys claimed her attention at the same time. She 
was beginning to feel somewhat helpless and as if she 
needed to know how to preserve order as well as how to 
teach when she remembered her promise to complete the 
story begun the first Sunday. She had just finished it when 
the signal was given for teacher and pupils to become 
attentive to the opening service of worship. 2 

1. Necessity of first -winning the child's interest. 
The worship was followed by the period of instruction. 
As the superintendent came down the room toward the 
class, New Teacher saw that she held in her hand an oblong 
wicker basket. It was about 12 inches long, 9 inches wide, 
and 3 inches high, and had no cover. It was, in fact, a 
correspondence basket, like those to be found on office desks 
in which , secretaries place their employers' mail. New 
Teacher looked about and saw that each teacher in the 
room had a similar basket. She wondered what was in the 
superintendent's, but discovered that she, like the children, 
must await developments; for a piece of brown felt the 



1 The true purpose and value of such questions become apparent 
in Chapters V and VI. 

2 The signal was quiet music. 

15 



16 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

size of the basket lay on top and concealed the contents. 
This piqued her curiosity and led her to perceive that 
elements of mystery and surprise introduced into a teach- 
ing situation have their values. She did not think in these 
terms, but noticed that the children required no bidding to 
attend. They gathered about the table and suggested by 
their attitude that something quite worth while, from 
a child's point of view, might be forthcoming, and that they 
were ready for it. 

A picture was the first thing produced. The superin- 
tendent held it in such a way that to see it the pupils 
would have to face toward her. The boys leaned forward 
from their side of the table to look, and the girls from 
their side. She explained: "This picture tells a story. 
Instead of telling this story to you I want you to tell it 
to me. Each of you, in turn, may take the picture in your 
own hands and look at it for a second or two and then 
pass it on to your next neighbor. Do not tell what you see 
in the picture until I am ready for you to tell me. Keep 
your discoveries to yourself in just the same way that 
you would if you were playing a game in which you did 
not want the other players to know what you were thinking 
or going to do. Which side is ready for the picture? I 
will pass it first to the girls." 

2. Arousing the child's self-activity. The passing of 
the picture was done quickly; for the superintendent knew 
that if individual children kept it for too long a time, the 
others would lose interest. She knew too that some re- 
quire a longer time than others in which to recognize de- 
tails and their relation to each other. Hence, she did not 
lay the picture aside when it was returned to her, but held 
it before the children while she asked, "What story do you 
see in the picture?" 3 One child saw only the people in the 
foreground. Another was attracted by the unfamiliar 
houses and street scene. Another child said, "Many people 



3 "In the Streets of Capernaum." For this picture see Primary 
Picture Set No. 3. 



AN HOUR WITH A SKILLED TEACHER 17 

are coming to Jesus." This answer showed an attempt to 
relate details, but was not entirely satisfactory. As atten- 
tion to details was necessary to a proper interpretation of 
the picture, the teacher began to ask questions: "What time 
of day do you think it is in the picture? Why do you 
think it is evening? Where are the people? What do you 
think is their purpose in coming to Jesus? Are all the 
people of the same age? Do they look as if they needed 
to be helped in the same way? Who will take the picture, 
point to some one who needs help, and tell what it is proba- 
ble he wanted Jesus to do for him? What did other people 
want Jesus to do for them? Tell the story of what Jesus 
did that evening at Capernaum." The superintendent 
pointed to the lame, the blind, and the sick; while the 
children told her that Jesus made the lame to walk, the 
blind to see, and the sick well. "He healed many that 
were sick." 

3. Interest centers in the story. Next the superin- 
tendent asked: "What part of the day is the evening?" 
and suggested, "Let me tell you what Jesus did earlier in 
the day." She laid the picture back in the basket under 
the felt covering and began: "Capernaum was a city be- 
side Lake Galilee. In this city there was a church called 
a synagogue. It was the gift of a wealthy soldier to the 
Jews." She told the story "A Busy Day at Capernaum." 
After telling the story she inquired, "What different ways 
have we of showing love to Jesus?" After the children 
had answered this question, she asked, "What will you 
try to do?" Because some children seemed thoughtful and 
hesitating, she added, "Think it over during the week, and 
next Sunday we will talk together about what you would 
like to do." Then she asked: "What shall we say to God?" 
and brought the lesson to a close with a prayer suggested 
by the children. 

The superintendent sat quietly a moment, then drew out 
the basket from under her chair, where she had placed 
it before beginning the story, and set it before her upon the 



18 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

table. She took from it the folders of Story 17, Year 3, but 
before distributing them inquired, "What do you think 
would be a good title for the story that I have told you?" 
Several titles were suggested; but as the one she desired 
was not given, she said: "Think what Jesus did. What did 
he do early in the day? What did he do while in church? 
Where did he go when he left church and what did he do? 
What happened in the evening as the sun was setting? 
What kind of a day do you think it was for Jesus when 
he did so many things?" Quickly someone answered, "A 
busy day." "That is the title of the story," said the super- 
intendent, " 'A Busy Day at Capernaum/ " Then she passed 
the folders to the boy who sat next to her at the right with 
the request to take a folder and pass on the rest to his 
right-hand neighbor. 

After directing attention to the "Something-to-Do" page 
she said to the children: "Explain to your teacher what 
you do with your folders and handwork pages, and show 
how quickly and skillfully you can fasten them in place. 
And one thing more: be sure to learn the Memory Verse 
and to recite it to your teacher next Sunday." In a few 
moments the superintendent called all the classes to at- 
tention and led in the closing service of worship. 

4. Considering a lesson in relation to results ac- 
complished. A little later the children and the other teach- 
ers were gone. New Teacher and the superintendent sat 
for the second time at the class table. The primary teach- 
er's textbook and pictures and a pupil's folder were spread 
out before them. 

"Tell me," said the superintendent, "what was the first 
thing I did in teaching the lesson?" 4 What happened as 
soon as I presented the picture? What led the children to 
do this? Was the kind of seeing which proceeds from cu- 
riosity the kind of seeing with which I was content? That 
they might see not only with their eyes but also with their 



4 It is advisable for the reader to answer each question as it 
occurs before reading on. 



AN HOUR WITH A SKILLED TEACHER 19 

understanding, what did I do? I gave them something 
to look for in the picture, — its story or meaning. I might 
have told them what the picture meant, but that would 
have been to do their thinking for them, to have told them 
what they were perfectly capable of discovering for them- 
selves. As it was, the children became interested and self- 
active with regard to the picture. They gave purposeful 
attention and thought to it. Speaking more technically, 
one would say that the children became dynamic in regard 
to the picture and the lesson. As a result of individual at- 
tention and thought each child discovered for himself de- 
tails and teaching facts which are of value to him in 
learning to know Jesus. 

"The pictured story was, however, only a part of the 
lesson, a part of what I knew and desired the children to 
know. What next did I do in order to teach the lesson? 
Did the children listen to the story? Did their thought- 
fulness and their quiet, reverent tones in prayer have any 
meaning for you? To me they meant that the lesson had 
made an impression, had aroused feelings of wonder at the 
power of Jesus and of gratitude and love. 

"These are among the feelings that give rise to impulses, 
and to which appeal may be made for right conduct. But 
in some children the feelings aroused by a lesson are weak. 
Other children do not know what to do to express them- 
selves; hence it is desirable with most lessons to secure a 
response or prepare the way for it. This explains why I 
asked such questions as 'What may we do?' and 'What 
will you do to show love to Jesus?' and suggested prayer. 
Not all lessons need to end with prayer, and it is only 
occasionally that a lesson is begun as I began it to-day — 
that is, with the presentation of a picture. The way in 
which the lesson is begun and ended depends on the les- 
son and the method by which it is taught. 

"From what you have heard and seen to-day what, do 
you think, is an approved method of teaching Bible les- 
sons to young children? 



20 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

"Judging from the lesson that I taught to-day, what 
three parts do you consider a lesson may have when taught 
by the story method? 

"What is the purpose of the story preparation? What 
should be the purpose of that which is done by or with the 
children after the story? 

"These are questions for you to think about and to an- 
swer in connection with the preparation of your next les- 
son/' concluded the superintendent. "And whenever you 
are ready to prepare next Sunday's lesson, let me know, 
and we will prepare it together." 

Thus, it was with much thinking to do and an immediate 
task as well as the larger one of fitting herself for teach- 
ing that New Teacher again went home. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. What, do you think, was the superintendent's motive in 
passing the lesson picture first to the girls? 

2. What relation have acts of courtesy to the making 
habitual of such feelings as are enjoined in Eph. 4. 32? 

3. What sense, strong in the boy's nature, did the super- 
intendent regard when she passed the folder first to the 
boys after having passed the picture first to the girls? 

4. How do such acts affect a child's attitude toward his 
teacher, the teacher's requirements, assignments of tasks, 
and discipline? 

5. There are several values in having the children handle 
a picture. Some of these will be discovered in a later 
lesson. Give one based on individual differences in the 
ability to see. 

6. From what you have read in this chapter concerning 
the method of teaching the lesson "A Busy Day in Caper- 
naum" what do you consider is one purpose of the lesson 
teaching in the Primary Department? Keep your answer 
for future reference. 

7. New Teacher's first attempt at teaching was largely 
a failure. This failure was not due to a lack of knowledge 



AN HOUR WITH A SKILLED TEACHER 21 

or mastery of her subject-matter. She had studied the 
lesson material in the Bible and in commentaries. It might 
have been said, and said truly, that she knew her subject- 
matter. What was it that she did not know? 

8. By following directions it is probable that New Teach- 
er would have taught much more effectively the second 
Sunday than she did the first. Was there any similarity 
in method between showing the picture to the primary 
children and having the young teacher observe the teach- 
ing of a lesson? What were the results in each case? 

9. What does an experience give or become? Find your 
illustration or argument in this lesson. 



CHAPTER III 

MARGARET AND NORMA, STANLEY, LEONARDO, AND 
VICTOR 

They were pupils in the same class — Margaret and Nor- 
ma, Stanley, Leonardo, and Victor. 

Margaret was fair and dainty. She wore her dresses 
of spotless white and of delicate pink and blue with grace. 
She stepped lightly and handled things gently. Even her 
thoughts were light and airy. She rarely touched realities 
even in her thinking. She was imaginative to an exces- 
sive degree. When she was younger it had been neces- 
sary to verify her statements, for they were apt to be 
colored by her fancies. Now that she was older, there were 
times when she seemed to speak from far away and to be 
living in a dream world of her own. Labor was irksome 
to her. She guessed the answer to a question rather than 
thought it out, and preferred watching the other children 
at their tasks to accomplishing her own. Yet she possessed 
elements of strength. She defended the rights of others 
speedily and effectually and would permit no one to impose 
upon her. She was admired and obeyed by all the chil- 
dren. The boys in particular sought her approval and were 
quick to do her bidding. She was the arbiter in times of 
controversy and set childish standards of right conduct. 

1. Individual differences in children. Norma was 
vigorous. When the door opened to admit her, one was 
reminded of March winds, whirling papers, and a fire in 
the next block; for always there was stir and movement, 
mischief and excitement, in her vicinity. Her clothes and 
hair were usually somewhat rumpled and suggested a con- 
flict with the elements or a race to get to Sunday school 

22 



MARGARET, NORMA, AND OTHERS 23 

on time or to outdo some boy whose speed she had chal- 
lenged. She differed from the boys at all times, dictated 
to them, quarreled with them, and derided their failures. 
She would glance over a boy's handwork page, discover 
an error, and taunt him with it to his exasperation and 
discomfiture: "You don't know how to spell! You are 
only in Three B. I'm in Three A, the rapid class." 

She was as quick to hear and to think as she was to 
see. It troubled her when the children did not sing in 
time or in tune. "That was sung too fast or too slow," she 
would urge; or, "The children are not singing that right. 
They go down when they should go up." She held every- 
one, even her teachers, to a strict accountability regarding 
the right or, the wrong use of words. She inquired about 
their meaning and was anxious to be correct in her pro- 
nunciation. She wanted to know the reason why for every- 
thing. 

Norma grasped one idea and was ready for the next be- 
fore Margaret and some of the other children had begun 
to think. She was ready with the answer to a question 
before the other members of the class understood the ques- 
tion itself. She found it tiresome waiting for the others 
to do their thinking. It was a temptation to her to give 
an answer before the teacher desired it. Often it slipped 
out; or if it did not, Norma was apt to lose interest and 
to perpetrate a bit of mischief. There were reasons why 
she was in the rapid class in the public school. 

Stanley was somewhat smaller than other boys of his 
own age, but he was vivid. His eyes were bright and 
shining. Good health showed in the color of his lips and 
skin and under his finger nails. His bobbing head was like 
a glint of sunshine difficult to catch and hold. He was 
rarely still unless listening to a story. Then he would sit 
with his left foot over his right knee, his hands clasped 
around his left knee, and with his head held high. If the 
story made a special demand on the thought powers of a 
child, he was eager and attentive. If it ended with a 



24 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

question, he knew the answer. If the story appealed to 
the emotions or sentiments, strong feeling — sympathy or 
joy, awe or reverence, love or gratitude — showed in his 
face. He was familiar with many Bible stories and had 
great love for the heavenly Father and tenderest feeling 
for the Saviour. He referred more often to Jesus as the 
Baby born on Christmas day than to Jesus as a man but 
was deeply interested in stories of Christ's ministry upon 
earth. Stanley stood out from among the other children, 
for he seemed to radiate joy and happiness and good will 
to others. 

Leonardo was dark, like other children of his race, but 
slight. It seemed sometimes as if he scarcely opened the 
door but slipped into the room like a shadow., To watch 
him during the service of worship one would think that 
he was dull and unresponsive. He sat low in his chair 
with eyes partly closed. But by watching him one could 
discover that his eyelids did not droop, as if they were 
heavy with sleep. They were drawn down, as if he were 
taking refuge behind them and watching you and every- 
thing that you did. They opened widely only when there 
was something to be done in connection with the lesson 
for the day. He delighted in a beautiful picture and found 
infinite satisfaction in doing handwork. He did it well, 
as he discovered when he compared his work with that 
done by other boys in the class. That which they were 
able to do became a sort of standard by which he measured 
himself and found that he was not lacking. During the 
lesson period he showed energy, initiative, ability, and in- 
telligence. 

Victor was the boy who caused the heartaches and led 
more than one teacher to urge the finding of some other 
teacher who could control and help him. He was older 
than the other children in the class and appeared much 
taller. His face was long, and this long look was accen- 
tuated by his mouth, which was open the greater part of the 
time, letting his chin drop. He was nearly always smiling, 



MARGARET, NORMA, AND OTHERS 25 

not in appreciation of the happenings and sayings that the 
other children found amusing, but at what he himself was 
doing. His arms and hands and fingers were so long that 
with the least movement, and one which would not be ob- 
served, he was able to pinch the boy who sat next to him. 
Victor wore heavy shoes and he trod upon the feet of the 
other children. He paid slight attention to his lessons 
and rarely knew the memory verses. 

One day his teacher asked him to help her move a row 
of chairs and to place a table in a different position. It 
was seldom that he arrived at Sunday school sufficiently 
early to give any assistance, but this day he was on time. 
To the teacher's surprise he seemed eager and glad to 
perform this service, and that Sunday made an effort to 
control himself and to be attentive. The following Sunday 
she called upon him again to give muscular assistance, and 
'from that time it was noticeable that when he was given 
something to do that he was capable of doing, there was a 
marked improvement in his conduct. 

Margaret and Norma, Stanley, Leonardo, and Victor are 
not peculiar to any one Sunday school. In nearly every 
Primary Department, if not in each class, there are chil- 
dren with vivid imaginations who may or may not lack 
concentration. There are boys and girls of quick percep- 
tions and keen intellect. There are those who are more 
responsive than others to the voices that speak to the 
spirit and bring one close to God. There are children from 
the city streets like the little foreigner, Leonardo; and there 
are the Victors, weak in all the ways that other children 
are strong. And what does it mean that in a class or de- 
partment there are these types of children? It means that 
New Teacher, about whose experiences you have read, pene- 
trated to the heart of the teaching problem when she 
asked if one must know not only how to teach but the in- 
dividual child to be taught. There may be six, eight, ten 
children in a class, but each one of the six or eight or ten 
is an individual whom, truly to teach, the teacher must 



26 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

know. She must know him as he is, and also as it is de- 
sirable and possible for him to become. 

What the child is he reveals by his conduct; for here, 
there, and everywhere and at all times he is showing what 
he is by what he does. Hence to know the child one must 
become familiar with his school life and watch him at 
his play. To understand his home life is imperative, for 
the conditions that environ him at home have a great in- 
fluence in making him what he is. A further knowledge 
of the child is to be gained through association with him 
and companionship. \ 

2. Knowledge influences teaching method. Victor's 
teacher, who saw him only in Sunday school for a brief 
hour on Sunday, thought of him chiefly as an annoyance. 
One day she learned that he was without father or mother. 
His mother's sister had taken him into her home, but she 
had a large family to care for and was not strong. She 
was able to give Victor very little personal attention and 
did not understand why he should be so different from 
other children. He was provided with shelter, clothing, 
and food, but denied sympathy and love. Next it was dis- 
covered through his records and work at school that he 
had a weak mind in a not overstrong body. In his play 
he showed that he was not vicious but lacking in sympathy 
and regard for others. 

Having acquired this knowledge, the teacher's whole at- 
titude toward Victor changed. She would have been a 
very strange and unnatural teacher if it had not. She 
asked: "How can he have sympathy for others when he has 
never experienced it? How can he concentrate and really 
think when he has not the power? If he has a weak body 
and a weak mind, how can he be strong and controlled? 
What may be done in the Sunday-school hour to develop 
him physically and mentally, to arouse the tender emotions, 
and to minister to him spiritually?" 

In her teaching and in her attempts to control Victor 
the teacher began to use different methods. She ceased 



MARGARET, NORMA, AND OTHERS 27 

reprimanding him for wrongdoing and urging a control 
impossible for him to exert. She began to direct his 
activities. When she made out a question for the other 
children there was always an easier question for Victor. 
When she asked other pupils to write an original state- 
ment, she gave Victor a sentence to copy. She was kind 
where she had been stern, and she studied his needs and 
how to help him upbuild a stronger and better self. Why? 
Because her knowledge made her sympathetic toward the 
child, fostered a tender feeling, and gave her an under- 
standing of his needs. It is said that the individual bond 
between the teacher and the individual child is the genius 
of the teacher. It is noteworthy that Victor responded to 
the teacher's different aUitude and methods, became more 
amenable, and tried to attend to the lesson presentation. 
Some days there was a marked improvement in his con- 
duct. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. There were times when Leonardo was unresponsive 
during the service of worship. It was learned that his 
father had lost courage in his struggle to earn a living in 
the New World. His mother worked hard but was incap- 
able of providing her large family with suitable shelter, 
clothing, and food. There were many times when the child 
came to Sunday school hungry because he had not had 
sufficient food for several days. Would this knowledge 
affect the teacher's attitude toward Leonardo? Would it 
cause her to modify her treatment of the child, her re- 
quirements for response or attention, or her assignments 
of work? How? 

2. Leonardo's clothes were of the cheapest and thinnest. 
His shoes needed repairing. He lacked many things when 
he measured himself by others. Would this account in 
any way for his joy when he found that his handwork 
compared favorably with that done by other children of 
his age? What feeling would it give him about himself? 



28 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

and of what value is this feeling? Is it possible that his 
father's continued failures in life might be due to loss of 
this feeling? When Leonardo appealed to his teacher to 
share in his joy and give him the word of commendation 
he craved, should she give or withhold it? What is the 
value of encouraging a child who does well to do, not better 
than his companions, but better than he himself has done 
before? 

3. Stanley's birthday came two days before Christmas. 
What was to him the happiest season of all the year was 
associated with the story of the birth of Jesus. What 
feeling might one expect Stanley to have for Jesus, and 
how would he be apt to think of him? Endeavor to ac- 
count for Stanley's joyous, happy disposition, his good will 
to all, and his greater love for God and knowledge of Bible 
stories than that possessed by other children. 

4. Norma's grandparents had served in kings' palaces. 
The originality of thought on the part of her father and 
mother and their independent spirit had led them to seek 
a home in a republic, to break away from an old creed, and 
to adopt another faith. There were numberless influences 
which stimulated Norma's thought powers and helped to 
make her keen and active and to give her a marked indi- 
viduality. How may the Sunday-school teacher obtain an 
equally intimate knowledge of the individual pupils in her 
class? 

5. What would you do with a child who dreams, as Mar- 
garet dreamed, during the teaching of a lesson or when 
there is work to be done? and how would you do it? Day- 
dreaming and inability to concentrate attention may be 
indicative of adenoids. If day-dreaming continues, what is 
the responsibility of the Sunday-school teacher? 

6. Sometimes it happens that in a Primary Department 
there are several classes of the same grade or year. In 
each class there is one or there may be two children who 
think and work much more rapidly than the other chil- 
dren. Would it be an advantage or a detriment to these 



MARGARET, NORMA, AND OTHERS 29 

children to place them together in one class? Is it a 
help or a hindrance to the slower thinkers to be associated 
with the more rapid workers or thinkers? What is the 
practice in approved public schools? Discuss and answer 
these questions from the point of view of the needs and 
rights of the individual child. 

7. We are told that physicians and educators who have 
worked with children who are deficient mentally have found 
that there is improvement when attention is given to ac- 
tivities that call into play the larger muscles like those 
of the arm and hand as a whole rather than those of the 
fingers. In view of this what would you do with such 
children as Victor? 

8. What is it that an acquaintance with the child's home 
life helps you to know about him? 

9. What is the Sunday-school teacher's responsibility 
and duty with regard to the pupils in her class? 



CHAPTER IV 
THE PRIMARY CHILD IN THE MAKING 

We meet him on the street. We see him at play with 
companions. We hear about him in school. Occasionally 
we visit him in his home and see him as a member of a 
family group. We think of him more often as the boy 
we teach in Sunday school, and for this reason are apt 
to forget that he is not only that boy; he is the boy his 
parents know, the boy his teachers know, plus the boy on 
the playground and on the street. The primary child is 
all these boys in one. Furthermore, he has not sprung 
into being; he has been in the making for six, seven or 
eight years. 

1. Beginnings of mental life. Mental life has its be- 
ginnings, and certain habits are started by fostering care. 
Once the child lay in his mother's arms helpless. He 
was able to do little more than cry when he was hungry 
or ill at ease and smile in variable fashion when he heard 
certain tones in his mother's voice and saw her smile as 
she leaned over him. Of his mother's love he knew noth- 
ing. Her thoughts lay beyond his power even to surmise. 
It was only her care and that of other people which af- 
fected him. 

Agreeable sensations or the reverse, feelings of comfort 
or discomfort, were occasioned by everything that was done 
directly for or with him, by the regularity with which he 
was given care, by the movements of persons and things, 
by sounds, and by qualities of objects that he became able 
to grasp and move. In receiving and reacting to these 
sensory stimulations his mental life had its beginnings 
and certain habits began to be formed. 

The young child makes an early beginning at discovery. 
30 



THE PRIMARY CHILD IN THE MAKING 31 

At first his movements were reflex, instinctive, and uncon- 
trolled; but gradually he became able to locate a sound 
and turn his head toward it, to follow a light, to recognize 
his mother and distinguish her from other people who cared 
for him, to recognize a few objects in his immediate en- 
vironment, to reach out and to grasp things presented to 
him and to convey them to his mouth or move them from 
place to place, and, finally, to seek a repetition of sensa- 
tions that gave him pleasure and to avoid those which oc- 
casioned discomfort. Gradually he gained power to move 
about. 

There came a time when he struggled to free himself 
from arms that held him. Released, he slid to the floor 
to creep across the room to his Teddy bear in the corner, 
his Canton-flannel pussy cat, and his rattle. He jerked and 
pulled first one and then another and pounded it upon 
the floor. He found pleasure in doing this because it was 
his play. 

The next day, or the day after, sunshine lay warmly upon 
the rug. Making his way into it, the little one discovered 
an open door. He studied it a moment, then crept rapidly 
out upon the doorstep into the brighter light and freer air. 
What had happened? He had heard the unknown calling 
ever so faintly and had answered it. 

To continue his discoveries the child began to hold him- 
self upright, to stand upon tiptoe, and to walk. He was 
everywhere, and his sharp eyes and busy, prying fingers 
found their way into everything. He felt of, tasted, lifted, 
and let things fall. He was hearing, seeing, doing some- 
thing all his waking hours, and everything he could do by 
himself he wanted to do. 

One day his mother set him in a sand pile to play. He 
watched her as she took a large spoon and filled a wide- 
mouthed bottle with sand. When it was nearly full, she 
emptied it and began the filling process a second time. The 
little one would not let her continue but took the spoon 
into his own hand and tried to do what she had done. 



32 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

Finally he mastered the feat, was able to convey the spoon 
to the mouth of the bottle, tip it, and send the sand inside. 
He filled the bottle and emptied it more times that day and 
following days than his mother was able to count. 

Imitation is another form, of discovery. He imitated 
everything he heard or saw — birds chirping and birds fly- 
ing, the bark of dogs, the crying of little children, the 
movements of people, and the expression of their faces. If 
any one frowned in perplexity, he frowned. If any one 
smiled at him in friendly fashion, he smiled in instant 
response. If voices were raised in protest or anger, he 
raised his voice and scolded vigorously. By doing what he 
saw others do he gained ideas of the sensations felt by the 
people whose acts he imitated. 

In times of stress or strain, of anxiety or excitement in 
the home he was nervous, excitable, and fretful. With 
persons who were contented and happy he was sunny na- 
tured. Often when his elders were laughing heartily, he 
stopped his play and bent back and forth in an excess of 
merriment. He was one of those about him and expe- 
rienced their emotions. It was preeminently the time with 
him of learning to share the mental life of others. 

This period in the child's development has been called 
the imitating and socializing stage. 1 The period in which 
the child is affected by what people do for him, rather than 
by what they think, is called the presocial stage. 2 It is 
necessary for the primary teacher to know something about 
these periods for the reason that during the presocial stage, 
which ends about the close of the first year, and the imitat- 
ing and socializing stage, which ends at about three years 
of age, certain habits are formed and certain characteris- 
tics are developed which have an influence upon the de- 
veloping conscious life. 

2. Beginnings of habit. Habits have an early start. In 
the earlier stage of development, the presocial period, 



1 The Individual in the Making 3 Kirkpatrick. 

2 Ibid. 



THE PRIMARY CHILD IN THE MAKING 33 

health is fostered, and the mind stimulated by care given 
at regular times, which occasions the repetition of cer- 
tain sensations. Regular times for dressing, feeding, and 
putting the young child to sleep, for petting and caressing 
him, for talking to and playing with him, for leaving him 
alone to talk to himself and to play, tend to establish 
habits of regularity in needing care. The child learns to 
know what to expect at certain times or under certain 
conditions and to respond joyously and happily to whatever 
is done with or for him. He is good-natured, and good na- 
ture becomes one of his individual characteristics. Per- 
nicious habits of irregularity and characteristics of fret- 
fulness and irritability have no chance to fasten themselves 
upon him. Through proper care and training it is possible 
for the child in this stage of development to learn to wait 
quietly for food and to be taken up. Professor Kirkpatrick 
calls these more complex habits "elementary acts of polite- 
ness." 3 Thus it is evident that desirable characteristics 
or the reverse have their beginning during the first year 
of the child's life. 

3. The socializing stage. Early in the second period, 
when the child begins to do what others do and to share 
their mental life, he gains not a feeling of self apart from 
others but of common consciousness with them. This is 
the time when the spirit of those around the child and the 
atmosphere of the home affect his emotional life. He not 
only reflects the spirit and the temper of those around him 
but builds their joyousness or their irritability, their con- 
trol or lack of it, their kindnesses or cruelties, their con- 
sideration or selfishness, into his own character. It is 
believed that many characteristics that a child of primary 
age manifests, which we frequently attribute to instinctive 
and inherited tendencies, "are the results of emotional 
attitudes produced by the actions of others during the 
period of great susceptibility to social influence." 4 



3 The Individual in the Making, Kirkpatrick. 

4 IMd. 



34 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

In addition to imitating the acts of the people about him 
and, by so doing, feeling in part as they feel, he enters 
more understanding^ into their mental life through the 
use of language. He receives ideas by what is said to him 
and he both receives and expresses ideas by making use 
of words he has learned. He learns language rapidly dur- 
ing his second and third years, and his intellectual devel- 
opment, as a consequence, is rapid. 

4. Development of consciousness of self. Usually 
during the third year the child begins to use the words "I" 
and "you" correctly and to express his preference in terms 
"I want" and "I don't want." Such expressions on the 
part of the child are thought to indicate that he has be- 
come conscious of selfness or has now "the idea of the self 
as a distinct conscious being." 

The child's health is important. Physical well-being 
tends to give a favorable trend to the conscious life that is 
forming. Ill health, on the other hand, may be responsible 
for a contrary spirit and other undesirable characteristics 
that distinguish him later. 

It is important for the teacher to have a knowledge of 
early childhood. The primary teacher who understands the 
importance of the first three years of life and the effect 
of environment and nurture on child development is able 
to meet the needs of the primary child more surely and 
successfully than the teacher who has not this knowledge. 
She is able to recognize characteristics and to look for 
their possible causes, to determine which tendencies need 
inhibiting and which developing, to guide the child's ac- 
tivities wisely, and to give him the personal attention and 
instruction which he requires. This part of the teacher's 
task will be emphasized later. 

5. Development of individualism. Another stage of 
development through which the child passes while he 
is in the making is the period of individualism. 5 It is 



5 The Individual in the Making, Kirkpatrick. 



THE PRIMARY CHILD IN THE MAKING 35 

also regarded as the last half of early childhood. 6 
The child begins to find less pleasure in playing alone. 
He unlatches the garden gate and leaves it wide open be- 
hind him. He is not far away, but when his mother calls 
he does not hear, for he is playing with companions. This 
is the time when his mother takes him by the hand and 
leads him to kindergarten and the Beginners' Department 
in the Sunday school. 

The child is beginning to be an individual person and 
to have a mental life of his own. He chooses what and 
whom he will imitate. Quite frequently he opposes his will 
to that of others. It is a problem to care for him and to 
direct and control him at this period; for his own individ- 
uality should develop freely and consciously, and, at the 
same time, he needs to be brought into right relationships 
with others. 

He needs a large amount of letting alone, and directions 
and suggestions rather than domination. He should be 
given opportunity to find things out for himself and to 
learn from experience what are the results 'of certain ac- 
tions and lines of conduct. He should learn to obey prompt- 
ly and without question or argument, for there are occa- 
sions when instant obedience is necessary to his own safety 
and that of others, to others' happiness and to his own. 

He has one absorbing and continuous occupation — his 
play. He leaves traces of himself all over the house. In 
the dining room the chairs are made into trains. In the 
library books are converted into railways and bridges. In 
the living room one must not move the piano bench from 
the middle of the floor because it is a ship at sea. Animal 
toys brought from the nursery are discovered upon the 
stairway, which in the child's imagination is the mountain 
from which wild bears come stealing down to kill little 
lambs in the shepherd's flock. Everything the child sees 
or hears about he tries to relive and make his own. He 
is entering into life and individualizing himself at the 

6 "Chart of Childhood," St. John. 



36 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

same time. It is only when nighttime comes or things go 
wrong in his little world that he wants mother. 

He begins to perceive that motives lie back of acts and 
to ask, not "What is that?" but, "What is that for?" 
"Where did it come from?" "Why is it like this? Why 
isn't it different?" "Why are you doing that?" "Why do 
you have to do it?" To some questions he is given the 
answer "God." The thought of God satisfies him and helps 
him to organize his thinking. God, whom the little child 
knows, has power to do everything. He is a loving Father 
who takes care of little children, loves them, and wants 
them to be good. He cares about what a little child does, 
and the little child begins to try to please him. What 
God will think or feel because of what he, the little child, 
does, becomes a subject for thought and a topic of conver- 
sation. The child learns that certain lines of conduct are 
right and desirable, and he begins to form ideals of con- 
duct, to distinguish what is true, and to measure himself 
and his acts and the acts of other persons by certain stand- 
ards. It is during the years from three to six, or the 
period of individualization, that the intellect is formed and 
the religious consciousness developed. 

At about six years of age the child becomes a real pri- 
mary child, for he enters the primary or first grade in the 
public school and is promoted from the Beginners' to the 
Primary Department in the Sunday school. He has been 
this child in the making for six years. What he is he 
manifests by his conduct. That which he is, together with 
that which it is desirable and possible for him to become 
in the next three years, represent needs that should be 
met. To meet as many of these needs as it can, and to 
meet them in the way that will contribute to the child's 
truest and highest development, is the purpose of the 
Primary Department. What the primary child is, what 
some of his needs are, and what the Primary Department 
may do to meet them will be considered in detail in other 
lessons. 



THE PRIMARY CHILD IN THE MAKING 37 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Name the different stages of development discussed 
in this lesson. They may be denned approximately by 
years. Define them in this way and write briefly upon 
each, stating what you think are distinguishing and im- 
portant tendencies in each period. 

2. In which period does the child begin to manifest cu- 
riosity, activity in play, and imitation? By means of a 
story from child life illustrate an early manifestation of 
each of these tendencies. Illustrate a later manifestation. 
Indicate briefly how each of these tendencies affects mental 
development. 

3. If possible to do so, observe carefully a child in each 
period of development, note some distinguishing charac- 
teristic, and account for it. In doing this consider the 
child's environment, the care and treatment given the child, 
and the emotional life of those with whom he comes in 
closest contact. If this study cannot be made of the three 
periods, choose and present one. 



CHAPTER V 
THE PRIMARY CHILD AS HE IS 

A moving van drew up at the curbstone in front of an 
unoccupied house. Almost instantly Dorothy, Lorna, Mar- 
garet, Walter, and Edward gathered in a little group near 
by to watch the process of unloading and to wonder wheth- 
er or not there would be children in the family which was 
coming. There were two girls, and Walter and Edward 
lost interest at once. One of the girls was perhaps a little 
older than Lorna, who was about five. The other was older 
than Margaret, who was six, and younger than Dorothy, 
who was eight. 

1. Children seek companionship. Dorothy and Lorna 
were sisters. Margaret was a little friend and neighbor. 
The children in the two groups watched each other from 
a distance for a time, then suddenly became acquainted. 
They played together for a day, possibly for two or three 
days; then their friendship ceased to prosper. The three 
seemed to ignore the two children. This explanation may 
be offered to account for the situation: 

A child needs experience in associating with com- 
panions. The newcomers were inexperienced in playing 
with other children. They were not ready to share, to 
take turns, or to give up their way to make their little 
companions happy. They were inclined to want the best 
for themselves and to be first in all things. When the 
three children had been yielding for about as long a time 
as good manners to newcomers demanded, they began to 
defend their own rights. When the newcomers found that 
they could not get what they wanted, they ran crying to 
their mother to get it for them. The three children dis- 

38 



THE PRIMARY CHILD AS HE IS 39 

approved of such conduct, and they simply let the two 
alone. It was nearly two years before the two groups 
again united for play. 

By this time all five children were older and had reached 
an age when children's play assumes a different form. They 
united for such games' as hide-and-seek, tag, and a few 
representative and dramatic plays; and they played "house" 
or "school" or "store" for an hour at a time without a 
disagreement. It was noticeable that the conduct of the 
two little sisters had become greatly modified. It con- 
formed much more closely to social customs that prevail 
among children, and it is probable that this is one reason 
why the children of the two groups found it possible to 
play together. The question is, Are such changes in chil- 
dren due to their added years or to formative and regula- 
tive influences which come into their lives? 

2. School experience as a regulative influence. Dur- 
ing the years from one to six the child obeys and for the 
greater part imitates adults. Therefore the chief social 
influence during the years preceding the primary are those 
of adult personalities. Even if the child attends kinder- 
garten and the Beginners' Department in the Sunday school, 
the attention and care given him are personal, and the 
dominating influence is that of the teacher. 

At about six years of age the child enters the Primary 
Department of the public school, and what happens? The 
child finds himself one of a quite large group of children 
of his own age. There are rules and regulations to which 
he must conform. These have been made not for the in- 
dividual but for the best good, development, and happiness 
of a number of children. He is in competition with others 
of his own age at all times. There are many occasions 
when he must cooperate with them in work and play. He 
discovers very quickly that if he is to have an active part 
in the school activities he must regulate his conduct and 
conform to the school rules and to the ideals and stand- 
ards of conduct held by his associates. It is apparent, 



40 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 






therefore, that school is a help to the child in regulating 
his conduct and becoming like other children. 

The teacher's ideals and her own conduct, her courtesy, 
her even and just discipline, the treatment of one child 
by another which she upholds, the ethical stories she tells 
(we are now considering the public-school teacher), her 
talks on manners, her own truthfulness, and the truth- 
fulness she requires of her pupils help to shape the child's 
ideals. The stories the child reads in school are also 
formative influences. Thus it happens that if a child re- 
ceives but little ethical training at home he does not go 
trainingless. He receives it in school. 

3. The home an agency of training. Most children, 
however, receive helpful training in the home, for it is 
there the average child is shown truest love and learns 
to love in return; where he experiences mercy and kind- 
ness, justice and truth, patience and courtesy, and is ex- 
pected to practice these fundamentals of character in his 
treatment of others. Children reflect this home training 
and the training received in school. (The training re- 
ceived in Sunday school is omitted from the present dis- 
cussion.) And when they meet in groups in school and 
on the street and in play they influence one another. They 
hold each other accountable to child standards of right 
and wrong, of truth, justice, and kindness. 

It is not unusual to hear one of a group of children say, 
"It is my turn," and for others to uphold him. Perhaps 
one hears : "I think you are mean. If you do that again, 
I am going home, ,, or "If you do not play fair, we will not 
play with you." The one who is reprimanded plays fair 
or desists from his teasing, for the one thing above all 
others which a child of primary age abhors is to play 
alone. He wants to win the game, to demonstrate his skill 
or fleetness; and to accomplish this he must be one of a 
group. If he is not a desirable member of the group be- 
cause of his conduct, he will restrain and control himself, 
follow the rules of the game, obey the dictates of the leader, 



THE PRIMARY CHILD AS HE IS 41 

do whatever is required, rather than be left out. There 
is no doubt that school regulations and practices, the influ- 
ence of teachers, and contact with companions of their own 
age, help children to conform to child customs and stand- 
ards of good conduct. 

4. The influence of persons. From these studies of 
child life in the primary period important truths should 
begin to emerge and find emphasis: 

First, that while character has received an impetus in 
earlier years, habits are not yet fixed at six, seven, and 
eight years, undesirable characteristics may be modified 
or inhibited, and desirable ones may be developed to fuller 
power. 1 

Second, that the primary period is one of great suscep- 
tibility to regulative and formative influences. Among 
these are the ideals and standards of conduct and character 
and the personal example of those with whom the child 
comes in most intimate contact — the members of his fam- 
ily, his teachers in school, his friends and playfellows, and 
his associates in books. 

Third, that the primary period must be one of great 
opportunity for religious instruction and the development 
of Christian character. 

The great susceptibility of the primary child to social 
influences may be accounted for by certain innate ten- 
dencies that are prominent during the primary period. 
Sympathy, suggestibility, and imitation are three of these 
tendencies. The instincts of self-abasement or subjection 
and of self-assertion or self-display are also causes of sen- 
sitiveness to influence. 

5. The influence of sympathy. Sympathy is the shar- 
ing and experiencing of the feelings and emotions of oth- 
ers. It has its beginnings in the period of common con- 
sciousness, 2 but is operative through life. Children of all 



1 The years from six to twelve are designated by Professor Kirk- 
patrick as the period of competitive socialization and regulation. 
The Individual in the Making, Chapter VII. 

2 See Chapter IV. 



42 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

ages, even adults, respond to emotion expressed either by 
bodily gesture, by the voice, or in the face. A merry smile 
dissipates gloom. Discontent in one breeds discontent and 
unhappiness in others. Fear, curiosity, and anger are 
readily communicated from one to another. Approval and 
disapproval, abhorrence and disgust, are also communi- 
cable feelings. 

When the child discovers that he is regarded with dis- 
favor because of some act or failure to act, the instinct of 
self-abasement is excited, and the emotion of subjection 
results. He experiences unhappiness and discomfort. He 
desires approval and makes an effort to win it. Having 
won it, he experiences the emotion of elation due to the 
excitement of the instinct of self-assertion. He has a pleas- 
urable feeling and continues to seek that which will give 
him pleasure. It is apparent, therefore, that the regard 
in which one child is held by another or by a group of 
children or by an older person whom he loves, admires, 
or before whom he feels inferior, is an influence that affects 
action; it tends to regulate it. 

6. Suggestibility of the child. Suggestion is allied 
to sympathy in that the result is achieved through a pro- 
cess of communication. It differs from sympathy in that 
the something communicated is not an emotion or feeling 
so much as it is an idea or belief, a standard or ideal, which 
is accepted with little or no conscious reflective thought 
on the part of the one to whom it is communicated. 

The child is conscious of dependence on others and also 
of a lack of knowledge. In the presence of those who care 
for and instruct him he has the feeling of subjection or 
submission. He is in a receptive attitude toward them, 
which leads him to accept any statement they make and 
to hold as his own any idea or belief they express or ex- 
emplify in conduct. Similarly, with companions or any one 
who seems to the child to be superior in respect to size, 
strength, knowledge, reputation, character or favor with 
others he is, as a rule, responsive to the suggestions he 



THE PRIMARY CHILD AS HE IS 43 

receives directly from them or because of what they say, 
do, think, or feel. The suggestibility of the child is another 
cause of his quick response to social influence and also to 
instruction. 

7. The tendency to imitate. The very young child 
tends to do what he sees other people do. If some one 
smiles at him, he smiles; when some one waves his hand 
in farewell, he waves his. If he is old enough to play with 
companions who for any cause start to run toward home 
or shelter, he follows them without thinking why they 
are running or why he should follow them. When he 
becomes old enough to listen to a story, he is very apt to 
respond to the idea of action with action. In the midst 
of the narration he will fly like a bird if the story is about 
birds, or will run fast to show how the boy in the story is 
running. He will imitate peculiarities of gesture, facial 
expression, and other mannerisms of those among whom 
he lives. He will do all these things because of his innate 
tendency to imitate others. 

It is, however, imitation of another form which makes 
the primary period vital to character formation. There 
is in the child of primary age a strong tendency to imi- 
tate persons whom he admires. Left to himself, it is prob- 
able that his imitations are not wholly purposeful or con- 
scious, but under proper direction and stimulus (given 
usually through the* suggestion of some adult) he will de- 
liberately set himself to imitate his model, to be like him, 
and to do as he does. There is also a tendency to carry 
out actions similar to those which the child has observed 
or heard about, which have interested or appealed to him, 
or which have been made to appear desirable in his eyes. 
He is of an age when he will work for a result if it is not 
too distant and is worth while from a child's point of 
view. The following is an illustration of what is meant: 

It is Christmastime, and the child is told a story about 
a boy who went without a desired Christmas gift that a 
child in a hospital might have a coveted toy, or performed 



44 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

some definite task for a month that he might earn money 
with which to help buy a Christmas dinner for a hungry 
family. The story is told in such a way that the action 
of the child who performed the act of self-denial appears 
admirable and imitable. The child to whom the story is 
told becomes eager to perform a similar act. He does it 
and experiences the joy of service. He repeats the expe- 
rience and enjoys the same pleasurable feeling. By a con- 
stant practice of such acts he may grow out of and away 
from a selfishness that may have characterized him. De- 
sirable character-forming influences or the reverse come 
into the life of the child through the tendency of imita- 
tion. 

Children, are inevitably suggestible, firstly because of 
their lack of knowledge and lack of systematic organization 
of such knowledge as they have; secondly, because the 
superior size, strength, knowledge and reputation of their 
elders tend to evoke the impulse of submission and to 
throw them into the receptive attitude. And it is in virtue 
largely of their suggestibility that they so rapidly absorb 
the knowledge, beliefs, and especially the sentiments of 
their social environment. 3 

The three innate tendencies — sympathy, suggestibility, 
and imitation — and the self-feeling instincts — self-abase- 
ment and self-assertion — are causes of peculiar suscepti- 
bility to regulative and formative influences exerted by 
persons. To show why and how they are causes has been 
the purpose of this lesson. These same tendencies and 
instincts make the primary period one of great opportu- 
nity in the development of Christian character, as later 
lessons will show. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Observe a small group of primary children at play. 
Note what form their play is taking, whether or not it is 



3 An Introduction to Social Psychology, McDougall. 



THE PRIMARY CHILD AS HE IS 45 

imitative and of what. Note also personal characteristics 
that are exemplified by the conduct of different children 
which are desirable or the reverse. Describe your obser- 
vation. 

2. Observe a larger group of primary children at play. 
Note the form their play is taking and whether it is one 
of large or small muscle activity. Note also the general 
and individual characteristics exhibited, and regulative in- 
fluences, if any are exerted, and the response to these in- 
fluences by individual children. Describe your observation. 

3. To what innate tendency or tendencies of the child's 
is the teacher's greatest influence due? 

4. Why do you consider the innate tendencies — sympathy, 
suggestibility, and imitation — important. 



CHAPTER VI 
THE PRIMARY CHILD IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 

It was the Sunday after the annual Promotion Day. On 
the steps of the Sunday-school building stood a little child. 
For two years he had been in the Beginners' Department, 
but that day he was to become a primary pupil. When 
the door was opened, he did not go to the beginners' room, 
as had been his custom, or to the beginners' teacher for 
instruction. He knew where the primary room was and, 
impelled by his curiosity concerning the new experiences 
awaiting him there, went directly to that room. 

1. Importance of a right appeal. In addition to cu- 
riosity the child has other natural qualities. He has in- 
stincts, impulses, and desires that render him susceptible* 
to influence, guidance, and training. 1 Among these are 
the imitative tendency, imagination, the tendency to act 
in response to suggestion, the tendency to play, the desire 
for companionship, a spirit of cooperation, readiness to 
share, desire for approbation, fear, a competitive interest, 
the instincts of subjection and of self-display, restlessness, 
the desire to do things and to accomplish immediate and 
pleasurable results, a tendency to repeat the doing or hear- 
ing of whatever has given him satisfaction, and the feeling 
of dependence and the spirit of obedience. In addition there 
are sentiments, emotions, and feelings such as love, grati- 
tude, and trust. These are among the natural qualities by 
which appeal is to be made and the whole nature of the 
child is to be aroused and lifted. It is by doing right that 
habits fundamental to Christian character are formed and 
strengthened. 



1 See Chapters IV and V. 

46 



THE PRIMARY CHILD IN SUNDAY SCHOOL 47 

2. A definite purpose. It is said: "There is no matter 
so important, none which so concerns all right-thinking 
people, as that of getting our children firmly grounded in 
righteousness and disposed to accept the ways of Christ 
with respect to life/' 2 Hence to "take the young child and 
secure in each individual, by information and inspiration 
and training, the development of the disposition and the 
power to choose from within in righteous ways" 3 is the 
task set for the Primary Department. This is necessary 
to the fulfillment of the larger aim, — the development in 
each individual of a Christian character, which is the 
supreme purpose of the Sunday school. 

For a better understanding of what is meant recall ob- 
servations of children at play, in the home, and at school. 
A group of boys and girls of primary age were playing 
hide-and-seek. Different children became "it" in turn. 
Among the players were those who were conscientious in 
closing their eyes and counting five hundred while the 
others were hiding. Others watched while their compan- 
ions hid or called five hundred before the counting was 
completed., What is indicated here? Is it not that chil- 
dren in their associations with others should play fair, 
show consideration, and be obedient to what is right; and 
that these are among the habits of Christian living for 
children? 

An eight-year-old boy was playing with his two sisters. 
They were older, but he was strong and sturdy and had 
an accurate estimate of his own strength. He became rough 
in his play and began to trip up his sisters as they ran 
and to pull their hair. His teasing passed the limit of 
endurance, and they begged him to stop. But he exerted 
no self-control until they appealed to their mother, when 
he yielded an unwilling obedience to the word of authority. 
"We observe that other habits which are desirable for the 



- The Use of Motives in Teaching Morals and Religion. Gallo- 
way. 
3 Ibid. 



48 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

child to form are prompt and cheerful obedience to au- 
thority, merging gradually into obedience to what is right, 
ready sympathy for others, and rightful yielding of one's 
own way for the good or pleasure of other people. 

One day a mother was obliged to leave her two little 
daughters alone at home for a part of the afternoon. In 
a box on a table in the living room was candy, which the 
younger of the children proposed eating. Her sister re- 
minded her that their mother did not approve of their 
having candy at all times, and that it would be wrong to 
eat it without her permission. Then, because the candy 
continued to appeal, and the little sister suggested that 
the mother need not be told if she ate it, the older child 
urged the strongest motives for right conduct of which 
she could think. She said, "It would be wicked to eat 
the candy and not tell mother, and God would know if 
mother did not; and to-night you could not tell him that 
you had tried to be a good girl" — with the result that the 
little sister left the candy untouched in the box. 

The mother was one whose children had learned to obey 
her, not because they feared punishment but because they 
loved her so truly that they did not want to grieve her by 
doing wrong. Similarly, when the children had some con- 
scious choice to make, she had led them to do right from 
the motive of showing love to God and of being obedient 
to him. From this illustration it is evident that even young 
children are capable of holding in mind childlike standards 
of right conduct and of making right choices from motives. 

It is largely by suggestion and imitation and by appeal 
to other of the child's natural qualities that he is helped 
to begin the formation of right habits. But as his expe- 
riences multiply and ideas take shape he may be led to act 
more and more consciously and to make right choices from 
higher motives. He should try to do what is right for the 
sake of father, mother, teacher, friends and companions, 
the heavenly Father, and to shape his conduct after the 
pattern shown by Jesus. 



THE PRIMARY CHILD IN SUNDAY SCHOOL 49 

3. Knowing the child. To meet the needs of the child 
and to give him the religious experience and training that 
may be provided for him in the Sunday school it is neces- 
sary for the teacher to know him as he is. The teacher 
will find it helpful to reread Chapters IV and V, and to 
study such books as Life in the Making, Barclay-Brown 
and others; Fundamentals of Child Study and The Indi- 
vidual in the Making, Kirkpatrick. In addition there 
must be thoughtful and sympathetic observation of chil- 
dren and friendly and intimate intercourse with individual 
children. It is from such association that strengths and 
weaknesses in a child's character are to be learned, and an 
estimate made of tendencies that should be diverted from 
wrong to right channels or inhibited, and of right habits 
that should be developed and strengthened. 

There is another method by which one may arrive at 
the habits of right feeling, thinking, speaking, and conduct 
which are desirable for the child and which the Sunday 
school should help him to form. This is to conceive of him 
as it is possible for him to become. 

Action is a great revealer of character. Think, there- 
fore, what that child would do. He would make an effort 
toward self-control and would make right choices with an 
increasing degree of consciousness. He would try to be 
truthful, honest, generous, and cheerfully obedient. He 
would be forgetful of self in social relations, would be fair 
and just, eager to help and to serve. He would show some 
recognition of his heavenly Father in his daily life, such 
as daily prayer, dependence on him for help and guidance 
in being good and seeking his forgiveness in wrongdoing. 
He would be reverent in Sunday school, participate in the 
worship, and be attentive to instruction. He would do all 
these things in an intermittent, childlike way, but it 
would be evident to those who knew him that he was try- 
ing to follow Jesus and to express love, trust, and rever- 
ence for his heavenly Father. 

4. Getting right habits started. Having determined 



50 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

many of the right habits the child should form, one's next 
step is to get these habits started. As has been intimated, 
for a young child this is done largely by making the right 
appeal to instincts, desires, and impulses. But for the 
child to continue doing these right things unconsciously or 
in response to appeal is not building character. It is only 
•when he makes a choice, becomes self-determining with 
regard to conduct, and acts from motives that character is 
developed. Therefore, to get the child to do right is only 
the beginning of the teacher's task. In its larger aspects 
it is to develop the child's initiative, that he may become 
self-active in making choices, and to help him choose from 
an enlarging conception of what is right and to choose con- 
sciously from the motive of loving and obeying God. This 
requires an intelligent understanding and use of the means 
and methods by which these desirable results are to be ac- 
complished. One of the purposes of this book is to present 
and discuss methods of work and to help train the teacher 
for her task. See the following chapters. See also the 
teachers' textbooks on the graded primary lessons: Bible 
Stories for the Sunday School and Home, Years 1, 2, and 3. 
In addition there should be the reading and rereading of 
the four Gospels; for, briefly stated, it is Christ's way in 
respect to life which is to be shown the child, and along 
which he is to be led. And it is only the Christ-filled life 
that can lead the child. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. What is the child's attitude toward one who is older, 
who is felt to be superior, and who possesses greater ability 
and knowledge? Find the answer in Chapter V. What, 
then, is the child's attitude toward instruction? 

2. To a child of primary age God is a Person, an all-wise 
and powerful, great, and mysterious heavenly Father. When 
thinking of God or viewing some natural object that exem- 
plifies his power and creativity, the child has a sense of 
God's presence. What natural instinct of the child may 



THE PRIMARY CHILD IN SUNDAY SCHOOL 51 

be excited by this sense? See Chapter V. What religious 
feelings would result, and what response in action would 
you expect? • 

3. The instinct of self-assertion, or self-display, may be 
excited by the consciousness of observation by people. The 
response is the desire to be one's best self, to win appro- 
bation and praise. Can you think of a weak or low mo- 
tive from which a child might act who had a sense of God's 
nearness and presence? From what strong or high motive 
would you encourage him to act? 

4. A child of primary age who has been told about the 
ministry and service of Jesus shows a readiness and eager- 
ness to help and serve, to be kind and good. What natural 
tendencies has the child to make him responsive to such 
stories at an age and stage of religious development when 
he cannot understand or appreciate their full religious sig- 
nificance? See Chapters V and VI. 

5. Explain the relation of repeated acts to habits. 



CHAPTER VII 
THAT THE CHILD MAY BECOME 

Religious instruction is one of the means for nurturing 
the developing religious life. Hence instruction should 
find a place in every plan of training for the primary child. 

Since most of our lessons are from the Bible, let us con- 
sider a typical Bible lesson for a child who has been pro- 
moted from the Beginners' Department to the Primary. 

1. Aim or purpose. It is desirable for the child to 
have a consciousness of God's presence and to show some 
recognition of God in his daily life. To develop this con- 
sciousness and to inspire to the performance of what the 
child should do becomes the purpose of a lesson. For the 
beginning, or point of contact, look to the child's environ- 
ment and immediate interests. It may be the harvest sea- 
son. If it is, the child probably finds fresh fruits on the 
breakfast and lunch table; he sees them displayed in shop 
windows; and it may be that at school he is drawing and 
coloring pictures of red and green apples, of yellow pears, 
of ripe peaches and grapes, and acquiring information 
about how the world is fed. In his number work he may 
be playing store and having experience in selling fruits 
to companions impersonating parents buying fruit for their 
children. The teacher at Sunday school places different 
kinds of fruits and vegetables into a box or basket. At 
the beginning of the lesson period she produces the basket, 
and the children wonder what may be inside. (Note the 
appeal to curiosity.) To discover the contents one child 
and then another puts his hand inside, feels something, 
grasps it, and tells what he thinks it is. Next he with- 
draws the object and shows it to his companions, who de- 
cide whether or not he named it correctly. The children 
are in competition with each other, and interest is keen. 

52 



THAT THE CHILD MAY BECOME 53 

Next the children draw and color pictures of fruit. (Note 
the recognition of the child's desire to do things that are 
pleasurable.) The children look at pictures of fruit trees 
in blossom and of trees bearing ripe fruit. By conversa- 
tion and questions the children are led to think of God 
as the Source or Giver of these good things. (Note the 
advance from that which gives the child information to 
that which arouses feeling.) A story follows. It may be 
"God, the Creator of All Things," based on Genesis 1; "Hun- 
gry Travelers," from verses selected from Exodus 12 and 
16; or some other Bible story. The appeal is to the feel- 
ings, for the children learn that God is the Giver or Source 
of daily blessings, and their love and gratitude are stirred. 

After the story the teacher inquires, "What would you 
like to say to God for his good gifts of fruit?" (Note the 
appeal to impulse and desire and to the child's initiative.) 
After the children have told her what to say, the teacher 
leads in prayer, the children repeating the words after her 
clause by clause. The habit of speaking intimately to 
God is begun or is strengthened, and there is nothing that 
brings the child closer to him than communion with him. 
After the prayer the teacher asks, "What will you do dur- 
ing the week to show love and thanks to God?" (Note the 
purpose to help the child relate the lesson to his daily 
life and conduct.) The children offer suggestions, discuss 
them, and decide upon some act of obedience, helpfulness, 
or kindness which they may carry out at home or as a 
class. What is accomplished for the child? The conscious- 
ness of God is deepened, the disposition and power to obey 
and to show him love are developed, the child's spiritual 
life is quickened. 

Interests crowd interests in childhood, hence the teacher 
does not permit the child to forget. The next week she 
asks what he did at home or at school to show love to 
God. If he was unsuccessful in doing what he wanted to 
do, she helps him to understand why. If he forgot, she 
encourages him to try again. If some cooperative activity 



54 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

was planned the preceding Sunday, teacher and children 
unite to carry out the plan for making someone happy 
or for giving aid. Another lesson is taught. It has the 
same or a similar purpose as the one taught the preceding 
Sunday. After the story the teacher asks the children 
what they would like to say to God and what they will do 
to show him love, and helps them to act in response to the 
desires and impulses which the lesson awakened. Through 
repetition of acts habits begin to form, and through a re- 
currence of the feeling of gratitude, love and gratitude to 
God are deepened. 

2. The importance of expression. Consider another 
lesson. It is desirable that the child shall have a ready 
sympathy for others, be helpful and loving in his daily 
life, and learn gradually to act from the motive of imitat- 
ing the example of Jesus and being obedient to his teach- 
ings. How is one to make the right appeal, to awaken the 
desires that will lead the child to act more consciously and 
purposefully in imitation of Jesus? The story "Jesus and 
Four Fishermen," based on the Bible passage Luke 5. 1-11, 
is told in such a way as to picture Jesus with his friends 
and to reveal his love and kindness, his sympathy and 
readiness to help. 

After telling the story the teacher connects with it some 
information, as for example: She gives the name that was 
given to Jesus because he helped people wherever he went — 
"Jesus of Nazareth, . . . who went about doing good." Then 
she asks the children what they would like to do for some 
friend. It is possible that Valentine's Day is approaching, 
and someone proposes sending valentines. The children 
plan what kind to send and where and when they will 
meet to make or buy the valentines. The whole nature of 
the child is enlisted not for self but for others. This 
lesson is only one of a group with opportunities for leading 
the children to think of many lines of conduct and to act 
in response to ideas of what is right and kind and Christ- 
like in association with friends and companions. The 



THAT THE CHILD MAY BECOME 55 

teacher who knows her pupils can by conversation, ques- 
tions, and suggestions guide the lesson expression in the 
way best adapted to meet their individual needs. 

3. Progress in instruction. *At this point reread Chap- 
ter II, in which a description is given of the method used 
in teaching the lesson "A Busy Day at Capernaum," based 
on the Bible passages Matt. 8. 14-17 and Mark 1. 21-34. 
The story of what Jesus did could not help adding to the 
child's wonder at the love and power of Jesus and deep- 
ening the child's love and reverence for him. From these 
feelings would spring the desire to show him love. But 
the impulse might be weak. Left to himself, the child might 
not know what to do, hence it is desirable for the teacher 
to ask, "What shall we try to do each day for love of Je- 
sus?" Conversation would follow. The children would tell 
what they thought. The teacher would give her ideas, 
using illustrations from child life as they were needed; 
and the children would begin to perceive what they might 
do and should do for Jesus. As must be apparent, this 
lesson is not suited to little children recently promoted 
from the Beginners' Department, but to the oldest and most 
thoughtful among the primary boys and girls. 

Thus, lesson teaching in the Primary Department in- 
cludes the giving of instruction. It imparts information. 
It puts the child in possession of a Bible story and a 
Bible verse. But the value lies in the appeal it makes to 
the child's impulses and desires, in the religious feeling 
awakened or strengthened, and in the child's response. It 
is not what the child knows as a result of the instruction 
in the Primary Department that is most important; it is 
what he feels, thinks, says, does, and therefore is. We 
teach not for that passive thing called information but 
for a result in character and life. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. In the lesson which leads the child to see God as the 
Source or Giver of all good, what point of contact is found 



56 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

with the child's experience? What use is made of curios- 
ity and competition? 

The activity provided for the child is pleasurable to him. 
State in what way it is a*lso valuable in the development 
of the lesson. 

How do the pictures help? What feelings are aroused 
by the story? In what two ways are those feelings ex- 
pressed? 

2. Discover and indicate the appeals to interest, instincts, 
desires, and impulses in the lessons "Jesus and Four Fisher- 
men" and "A Busy Day at Capernaum." 

3. What is the purpose of using such questions at the 
end of the lesson as "What would you like to say to God?" 
"What will you do?" 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE PRIMARY COURSE OP STUDY 

If lessons are to meet the needs of the primary child, 
they must be chosen especially for him. A familiar illus- 
tration will make this clear. Turn the pages of a much- 
used Bible — turn them thoughtfully and slowly. What do 
you find? Some pages are worn thin, some are held in 
place by strips of pasted paper. That a certain chapter 
may be turned to with readiness at all times, one finds it 
indicated by a bit of ribbon, a cherished letter, a card, or 
other marker. And does not one also find certain verses 
underlined, and penciled notes and dates beside others? 
What do the worn and crumpled pages mean? Is it not 
that here are the Bible passages that are turned to oftenest 
for help or comfort, for inspiration or guidance? The un- 
derscored and dated verses— are they not those which have 
given aid at some particular time? 

1. Meeting the needs of the child. The needs of the 
child are different from those of the adult. At six, seven, 
or eight years of age he is still near the beginnings of life. 
He is not yet far removed from the beginnings of his reli- 
gious life. He needs the kind of instruction and training 
that will help him develop "a religious life that is beau- 
tiful and strong and that will build a Christian charac- 
ter/' 1 

A child cannot find his way unaided in the Bible. Bible 
stories and verses must be found for him. These should 
be chosen in the same spirit as that in which the adult goes 
to sources of strength. The stories should give the child 
satisfaction. The truth brought to him must be real and 
vital for him and applicable in his present life. The test 



1 Bible Stories for the Sunday School and Home. 

57 



58 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

of any course of study offered for primary children is what 
it accomplishes in the life of the child. 2 

2. Progress by themes. Quite frequently it happens 
that a teacher who has taught a lesson one Sunday and 
has taught it well finds the next Sunday that the child has 
almost forgotten it. This is because so many days have 
intervened since the lesson was taught, and each day has 
been full of new interests. There is so much that is new 
in the child's world, so much that is claiming his attention, 
that if he is to know any one thing well he must be per- 
mitted to learn it slowly. One phase of a truth must be 
presented to him one day, and a different phase of the 
same truth the next day. 

A course of study for the Primary Department should 
develop by themes or subjects with as many lessons under 
each theme as are necessary for the child to understand 
the truth and to relate it to his own life by acting in re- 
sponse to it. A course of study which presents one truth 
one Sunday and a wholly different and unrelated truth 
the next Sunday is not ideal for a six-, seven-, or eight-year- 
old child. 

3. Suitable memory verses. Another test of a primary 
course of study is its Bible verses for memorization. Not 
long ago a primary teacher said with pride: "My pupils 
know a Bible verse for every letter in the alphabet. All 
that I need to do is to say 'A/ and they will give me a 
Bible verse beginning with 'A/ and so on." Quickly other 
teachers began telling what their pupils were able to do. 
One reported that her pupils had a verse for each finger 
of each hand and pretended to fit on gloves as the different 
verses were recited. She said that the children never 
failed to give the right verse for the right finger. 

Other teachers questioned the value to the child of Bible 
verses that had been memorized but not related to life in 
any way. The first teacher hastened to add that the verses 



2 See Chapter VI, page 47 ; Chapter VII, page 53 ; and Chap- 
ter XXI, page 130. 



THE PRIMARY COURSE OF STUDY 59 

were explained before they were memorized. The other 
teachers contended that more than explanation is neces- 
sary: a Bible verse must be connected with or related to 
the child's life. For example: A teacher who had listened 
to the teaching of one of the temperance lessons in the 
primary graded lesson course said: "The lesson that helps 
the child to control himself, to choose the food that will 
make him strong, instead of rich, unnutritious foods, is 
more truly a child's temperance lesson than the one that 
presents the evils of intemperance. The Bible verses 'Do 
that which is right and good/ 'Abhor that which is evil; 
cleave to that which is good/ and 'Eat in due season for 
strength' are a child's temperance verses. I know that 
I am right, because they are verses which a child can 
act on. When my brother was a little child he could re- 
cite many Bible verses and the texts that were regarded 
as the only temperance texts in those days: 'Wine is a 
mocker, strong drink a brawler; and whosoever erreth 
thereby is not wise;' 'Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow?' 
and the verse beginning 'Look not thou upon the wine 
when it is red' and ending with the words 'at the last it 
biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.' These 
verses were his mental possession, but that was all. They 
were wholly unrelated to his life. His need as a child 
was to learn self-control. This need was not met, and 
what was the consequence? When he grew older he was 
without power to control himself, and he could not resist 
temptation. Truth, even God's truth, must be linked with 
the child's present life and need if it is to be effective." 

To touch the present life of the child, to deepen some 
religious feeling, to inspire to the performance of some 
religious act that it may be made permanent as a habit, 
should be the purpose of the memory verses of the primary 
course of study. They should be connected with or grow 
out of a Bible story, that the child may see them exempli- 
field in life and receive suggestions from them for his own 
life. In this way the Bible verses become more than ver- 



60 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

bal knowledge, more than precepts, more than truths un- 
derstood. They become motives for action, incentives to 
the performance of God's will for a child. The primary 
course of study is therefore to be tested by the relation 
of its memory verses to child life. 

Emphasis is placed upon the necessity for the religious 
instruction to be suited to the stage of advancement of the 
learner. This means that it must keep pace with the 
child's development. He enters the Primary Department 
at about six years of age. The primary period is three 
years. Unless the child is abnormal — that is, deficient 
mentally or weak physically — he advances in his school 
work during the years six to nine. In this time his ex- 
periences multiply. He becomes conscious of greater free- 
dom and power. Each day he has impulses to do and dare 
which are new to him. As he uses his freedom and power 
he finds himself in new situations. Life unfolds and de- 
velops before him and in him. Day by day he has not 
only an ever-increasing mental ability and power but new 
spiritual needs. A test of any primary course of study is 
its plan for keeping pace with the developing life and 
needs of the child through the three years he remains in 
the Primary Department. 

4. Importance of a progressive course of study, A 
course of study in which the child may progress steadily 
for three years is the only one that can meet his needs in 
the best way and contribute to his spiritual development 
throughout the primary period. A primary course may be 
three years long. During the three years it may teach 
many truths — in fact, all the truths taught by a course 
that offers three grades of lessons. But as long as each 
one of the lessons for three years is taught to six-, seven-, 
and eight-year-old children at the same time — that is, de- 
partmentally — it is inevitable that lessons suited to eight- 
year-old children will at some time be taught to six-year- 
old children. Lessons suited for first-year children, who 
are little more than beginners, will be taught to girls and, 



THE PRIMARY COURSE OF STUDY 61 

boys nearly juniors. If the lessons are adapted — that is, 
if the first-year lessons are made more difficult, and the 
third-year simplified — then a lesson on one plane, suited 
to one stage of development, would be taught for three 
years. It is important for the child to make continuous 
progress in his religious studies and for his developing 
needs to be met. A graded and progressive course of in- 
struction is therefore recommended for use in the Pri- 
mary Department. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. What is the purpose of the Primary Department? 

2. What are some of the means for nurturing the child's 
religious life? 

3. We discover what religious nurture should accomplish 
in the life of the child by making a study of his needs. To 
do this, study the child as he is and as it is desirable for 
him to become. What a child becomes he manifests by his 
conduct. What conduct do you think it is desirable and 
possible for him to manifest in his home and school, Sun- 
day school, and play life? 

4. Suggest a Bible story or stories that you would use 
with a primary child, and tell what you think his response 
would be. 

5. Give several Bible verses you would teach a primary 
child. State the age of the child to whom you would teach 
the verses, and tell what need you think each would meet. 

6. Why is a lesson course arranged by themes better than 
one that teaches a new truth each Sunday? Give an illus- 
tration of several lessons under one theme. 

7. Assume that the superintendent of the school or some 
teacher in the Primary Department is opposed to graded 
lessons. Prepare arguments to convince the objector 
that graded lessons meet the needs of the child much more 
surely than a departmental lesson. Find some of your 
arguments in the enlarging interests and activities of the 
child between the years six and nine. 



CHAPTER IX 
EVERY CHILD LOVES A STORY 

A general superintendent opened the door of the pri- 
mary room and stood in the doorway. He nodded in greet- 
ing to the secretary standing near him and to the superin- 
tendent of the department at the other end of the room, 
then looked interestedly from class to class. There were 
ten classes, — three first-, four second-, and three third-year. 
In each class there were eight pupils listening to a story 
told by the class teacher. 

A number of the children faced the superintendent. 
Several looked up when he opened the door, but they did 
not really see him. The first-year children were out in 
the snow and cold with little creatures in feathers and fur, 
seeking shelter and food. Keen interest showed in the 
children's faces, and tenderness. The second-year children 
showed some excitement. They were not in the class-room, 
but in the Temple at Jerusalem praising Jesus and singing 
with the children there, 

"Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; 
Hosanna in the highest/' 1 

The children in the third-year classes were listening to the 
story of the good Samaritan. 1 In their faces showed differ- 
ent emotions: pity for the man fallen among thieves, scorn 
for the priest and Levite, admiration for the Samaritan and 
his acts. The superintendent watched and listened for a 
moment, then said to the secretary, "To speak to teachers 
and children would be a serious interruption to the work 



1 Bible Stories for the Sunday School and Home, Years 1, 2, 
and 3. 

62 



EVERY CHILD LOVES A STORY 63 

being done," and withdrew, closing the door softly behind 
him. 

1. The story has absorbing interest. Not only the 
children in that Primary Department love a story, but all 
children do. This love is instinctive. It is a gift to child- 
hood from the time when there were no books, and the story 
told or interpreted dramatically was the only means of 
transmitting knowledge and culture. Because of the child's 
love for a story he gives attentive interest to almost any 
kind. He concentrates his whole mental energy upon the 
one he understands and enjoys, hence the story is a valua- 
ble means of instruction. 

In the Primary Department of the Sunday school large 
use is made of the Bible story. Usually it requires adapta- 
tion for the child to understand it, and in some cases be- 
comes a story based on a biblical incident. Stories from 
other sources are told occasionally for illustration and to 
make the teaching more concrete; as for example, the story, 
"Winter Shelters," that was being told in the first-year 
classes described. 

The story the child likes best to hear is one that pictures 
life in action. The reason for the child's preference is not 
difficult to understand, for when one stops to think and 
realize it, the child's world is largely a picture world. 
Through all his waking hours there is something to see. 
Except when he is asleep there are people around him who 
are always doing something. Objects are moving or being 
moved before him. Life and its meanings are being con- 
stantly interpreted to him by moving pictures. The child's 
tendency is to identify himself with the life the story por- 
trays. In much the same way that the young child in the 
imitating and socializing stage 2 shares the mental life of 
the people about him, so the primary child has a feeling 
of common consciousness with the one about whom he is 
hearing, and shares his feelings, thoughts and acts. 3 



2 See Chapter IV, page 28. 

3 See Chapter V, pages 33, 34. 



64 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

Tell a story and watch the little listener's face. In dif- 
ficult situations the child looks thoughtful or shows anxiety. 
If the hero is in trouble, shadows creep into the child's 
eyes, sometimes the tears fall. If the story approaches the 
climax with a joyous note, the child shows joy and happi- 
ness. If the story depicts self-denial, courage, or nobility 
of conduct, the child shows by his earnest, thoughtful at- 
tention, by uplifted look, by exclamation or comment that 
he is thinking rightly, feeling nobly. 

Through the child's tendency and power to live in the 
story, a story becomes to him an experience. Every ex- 
perience brings a contribution that influences and affects 
the developing life and character. If it is an experience that 
is helpful to him, it calls forth and leaves a feeling that 
is refining, ennobling, and enriching. It quickens the 
child's mind to a perception of truth. It opens his "soul- 
windows" and gives to him a vision of his own self and of 
the self that with God's help it is possible for him to be- 
come. There is nothing that lifts the life of the child so 
effectively as the story unless it is the act to which the 
story inspires him. 

2. The story arouses impulses and creates motives. 
In a story the action is rapid. Incident follows incident 
in quick succession. Acts are recognized in their proper 
sequence and relation to each other. The motive behind 
an act becomes apparent. An act is perceived as a cause 
of an effect, and the child forms judgments, gains ideas. 
Moreover, he receives impulses and suggestions for action. 
For an illustration, consider the story of the good Samari- 
tan, in which the child perceives the effect of selfishness 
and unkindness. His reaction is a strong feeling of ab- 
horrence for such attributes of character. He admires the 
Samaritan, and his impulse is to imitate his conduct; and 
if the opportunity is made for him, he, with companions 
in his class, plans and executes some neighborly act. 4 



4 See Chapter V, page 4-0. 






EVERY CHILD LOVES A STORY 65 

Later, when the child sees an animal in distress, a com- 
panion in trouble, someone whom he loves, worried or 
anxious, it is improbable that he recalls the story, but he 
responds with sympathy and some effort to help. He gives 
the thirsty dog a drink or rescues the kitten from its per- 
ilous position. He dries his little friend's tears, and sug- 
gests doing something pleasurable, or seeks to bring back 
the smile to his mother's face or to lighten her burdens. 
He shows by his conduct that his spirit is that of merciful 
kindness which is Christlike in its essence and expression. 

The child to whom this story would be told, if the Pri- 
mary Graded Lessons are used in the department, would 
be in the third-year class, and of an age when he needs 
to act not only from impulse but also from the right motive. 
Later the child's impulse may weaken under different in- 
fluences; but having known once what he should do and 
why he should do it, he cannot wholly rid himself of the 
idea. To give it permanency the second great command- 
ment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," is con- 
nected with the story, and the child is asked to memorize 
this Bible verse. In this way the child is given a sugges- 
tion for conduct that attracts and appeals to him and a 
motive from which to act. No other means is more effective 
than the Bible story that has a suitable Bible verse asso- 
ciated with it for bringing truth to a child and helping 
him to act from a right motive. 

It is said: "In morals and religion, as well as in most 
other significant elements of character, the culture does 
not come through responses which are forced from the out- 
side. To have moral and spiritual significance, all atti- 
tudes, choices, and decisions must be the child's own. 
There is no place in education where the principle of self- 
activity is as important as in religious training/' 5 

Thus by teaching truth and presenting ideals of life and 
conduct and by influencing the child to determine his own 



5 The Use of Motives in Teaching Morals and Religion, Galloway, 
page 19. 



66 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

conduct, the story is an aid in the development of char- 
acter. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. What is the purpose of the Bible story as it is used in 
the Primary Department? 

2. To fulfill its purpose^ what must the story be and do? 
See Chapters VIII and IX. 

3. If knowledge in the truest sense is the result of ex- 
perience, how and why may a story contribute to the child's 
knowledge? 

4. What do you think was the purpose of the story being 
told in the second-year class when the general superin- 
tendent visited the department? 

5. Explain the superintendent's action on the basis of 
the relation of attention to learning. 

6. What was the purpose of the primary secretary in 
keeping a position near the door of entrance? 



CHAPTER X 

WORD-PICTURING 

A story is a picture. It is not a vital part of a life but a 
portrayal of that life. Story-telling is word-picturing. 

1. The appeal and power of the story. In the same 
way that a picture created by the artist with colors and 
brush is to convey a message, the purpose of the story is 
to give a message. Its appeal is to the imagiDation, feel- 
ings, and impulses; consequently, the story has the power 
to quicken the mind to new perceptions, to arouse helpful 
emotions, and to lift the life of the child by giving him 
ideals and motives for conduct and helping him to act 
from these. The Bible story is an opportunity for promot- 
ing the child's religious development by putting him into 
sympathetic relation with religious truths and helping him 
to realize them in his present life. 

2. Requirements in the story-teller. Word-picturing 
is an art and as such has a technique of its own. The 
medium of expression is language; therefore the language 
used must be impressive, vivid, and readily understood. 
"Children require simple, direct words, clearly defined in 
thought and grounded upon common experience and con- 
viction. Facts and realities should stand behind the words 
of a teacher." 1 When new and unfamiliar words are used, 
the child should be able to understand them because of 
their association with words with which he is familiar, 
their position in the sentence, or from the idea gained or 
feeling aroused by the story. A picturesque, vivid, and 
colorful vocabulary is to be obtained by reading the poets ; 
one that is simple and direct yet forceful, by reading the 



1 Special Method in Primary Reading, McMurray. 
67 



68 



THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 



Bible and committing portions of it to memory; and a 
child's vocabulary may be learned by reading children's 
books. The story-teller needs to use language understand- 
ing^ and skillfully, that the oral story may become "a 
perfectly transparent medium of thought. A child can see 
the meaning of a story through oral speech as one sees a 
landscape through a clear window-pane." 2 

A good speaking voice is a prerequisite of the story-teller. 
It should be flexible and capable of expressing feeling and 
emotion, since one of the purposes of the story is to arouse 
feeling. Anger, fear, distress, disapproval, approval, joy, 
and happiness may be expressed by the voice and also 
by the face and general attitude. A flash of the eyes will 
suggest anger, fear may be indicated by a withdrawing or 
shrinking of the body, distress by a drop of the mouth and 
shoulders, disapproval by a frown, approval by a smile, and 
joy and happiness by an uplifted, happy face and smiling 
eyes and lips. Voice, expression, bodily attitude, and 
manner are means of expressing feeling and arousing it 
in others; for feeling is communicable. 3 

From this it is evident that the story-teller's understand- 
ing and appreciation of the story is a vital factor in the 
impression that is made. One enters into a story largely 
through the power of the imagination; the story-teller's 
imaginative faculty must therefore be active. It may be 
quickened by the reading of poetry, of poetical prose, and 
of children's fairy stories. Since a story portrays some 
part of a life, there must be sympathy with life. It is the 
artist who finds beauty, mystery, and wonder in the heart 
of the gentian, columbine, or wood violet who paints it so 
that the passer-by finds in the painted flower a beauty that 
occasions thoughts of God. It is the artist who has pene- 
trated to the inner meaning of life lived by certain people — 
the sailors on the sea, the newsboys of a city, the Arabs 
on the plains and deserts of Arabia, the toilers in our mod- 



2 Special Method in Primary Reading, McMurray. 
8 See Chapters IV and V. 



WORD-PICTURING 69 

ern factories — who best portrays the life of that people. 
Similarly, the story-teller must experience life — the deeper 
and wider the experiences the better — and must be sympa- 
thetic toward all life. A story-teller needs first a friendly 
sympathetic attitude of mind toward all things human, 
and then contact with life, as Professor McMurray says, 
"in all sorts of acts, habits, feelings, motives, and condi- 
tions." Contact with nature will also add richness to one's 
thought powers and emotional life. There should be op- 
portunities for walks in the woods and for beholding sun- 
sets in the mountains and beside the sea. The experienc- 
ing of sorrows and joys and all typical life scenes, travel 
and art, and the reading of good books help one to find 
meanings in life and to make these meanings plain to oth- 
ers. A close acquaintance wifh the child and his world is 
necessary too, if the child heart is to be reached by the 
story-teller, and the child's life benefited by the story. 

3. Acquiring power to tell stories. Power to tell a 
story is said to be latent in everyone, and all that it re- 
quires is development by study and practice. The enrich- 
ment of life by experience and study, the cultivation of the 
imagination, and the acquisition of a suitable vocabulary 
are means to this end. A study of stories children delight 
in at different ages for the purpose of discovering reasons 
for their interest and joy, and experience in telling and 
retelling these stories to children will also help to de- 
velop the story-telling power. Great gain will come from 
the preparation and mastery of a story and experience in 
telling it. 

Sometimes it is thought that the person who is the 
readiest talker makes the best story-teller. On the con- 
trary, it is far more possible that it is the quiet, thoughtful, 
logical thinker, for such a person is apt to see and think 
clearly and to combine ideas into clear and connected series 
of thought. 4 



4 Special Method in Primary Reading, McMurray. 



70 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Read a fairy story. Note the virtue that is rewarded 
and what form the reward takes. Note the wrong- 
doing and its punishment. If possible, tell the story to a 
child and encourage an expression of opinion and conversa- 
tion about the story. Watch for any other response to 
the story. 

2. Read a mytli. What human motive does it explain, 
and what is the value of the story for a child? 

3. Read a legend. Around what event or personality 
does it center? What are the fictitious elements? What 
is the purpose of the story? 

4. Read a fable. What human characteristic is described? 
What truth is taught? What impulse is aroused? 

5. Read a realistic story enjoyed by a child. A realistic 
story is one taken from history or biography, a personal 
reminiscence, a true story about an animal, or a story that 
carries the air of reality and might be true. 

(Note. — A teacher studying this book in connection with 
a teacher-training correspondence course may give the titles 
of the different stories read and designate them as fairy 
story, myth, legend, fable, or realistic.) 

Books obtainable in most public libraries, in which the 
different types of stories may be found, are: 

Nature Myths and Stories, by Flora J. Cooke. 

The Story Hour, by Kate Douglas Wiggin. 

In Mythland, by M. Helen Beckwith. 

Stories of the Red Children, by Dorothy Brooks. 

Fables and Folk Stories, edited by H. E. Scudder. 

Parables from Nature, by Mrs. Gatty, in several editions. 

The Golden Windows and The Silver Pitcher, by Laura E. 
Richards. 

Why the Chimes Rang, by Raymond McDonald Alden. 

For the Children's Hour; For the Story Teller; Stories 
for Sunday Telling; Tell Me Another Story; and Stories 
for Any Bay, by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. 



WORD-PICTURING 71 

Mother Stories and More Mother Stories, by Maud E. 
Lindsay. 

How to Tell Stories to Children and Stories to Tell to 
Children, by Sara Cone Bryant. 

Little Animal Stories and The Animal School, by Frances 
Weld Danielson. 

In Story Land, by Elizabeth Harrison. 

Heroes Every Child Should Know; Heroines Every Child 
Should Know; and Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know f 
by Hamilton Wright Mabie. 



CHAPTER XI 
THE TECHNIQUE OF STORY-TELLING 

A business man who, in a friend's office, saw for the first 
time one of the pictures of Christ by Hofmann, is said to 
have asked permission to look at the picture quietly by 
himself. He carried it into an inner room and spent an 
hour or more before it. When he left it, he had given 
himself to the Christ the picture made real to him. We 
are told that before the artist Hofmann began even to 
sketch one of his famous pictures he spent hours thinking 
of Christ, studying his life, becoming repossessed by him. 
When ready to paint he had a message to give to the 
world, and with his brush and colors made his message 
live on canvas. 

The primary teacher's purpose is not unlike that of the 
artist Hofmann. It is to acquaint the child with Christ, 
that finally he may enthrone him 'in his child heart. She 
may use pictures to aid her, but her chief means for por- 
traying Christ and inspiring the child to Christlike acts 
is word-picturing. For this reason the primary teacher 
must know how to tell a story, must master the technique 
of story-telling, that she may give her message to the chil- 
dren who gather round her in the Sunday-school class. 

1. Making the story your own. The story must be 
studied for its message. The first step in preparing a story 
for telling is a study of the story for its message, the truth 
to be brought to the child, and for the response that is 
desired. 

There must be a clear appreciation of the feelings. The 
value of the story is in its appeal to the emotions and im- 
pulses. The second step is therefore a clear appreciation 

72 



THE TECHNIQUE OF STORY-TELLING 73 

of the feelings to be stirred and a study of the story for 
the elements best adapted to make the different appeals 
and arouse the feelings that will bring a response. The 
result should be a good idea of the story as a whole. 

The climax must be determined early. The third step 
is a study of the events in their proper order for the pur- 
pose of discovering which forms the climax of the story 
and how the different steps or events lead up to or prepare 
for it. This study would include the making of a written 
outline of the action. 

The story must be complete in its detail. To elaborate 
the outline — that is, to write or tell the story in detail — 
is the fourth step. In this way the story is made one's own, 
for one's own words and expressions are used. 

2. Preparing to tell the story. The story's message 
must ~be clear and unencumbered. In the elaboration of a, 
story one of two things is apt to happen: the story becomes 
either too full or too barren and brief. Its defects are to 
be discovered only by the severest criticism. Each word, 
description, or illustration that does not create greater 
interest, does not help to develop the story or make its 
meaning clear, must be cast out. On the contrary, if the 
story is not full enough, if the action is too rapid, or if 
the steps are not easy enough for the child to follow, its 
detail must be elaborated. The story or parts of it may 
need rewriting. 

The story should lend itself to vivid and impressive pre- 
sentation. If the story under preparation is not original 
or an adaptation, but is, for example, a story in a textbook, 
the next step is the improving of one's own story by sub- 
stituting the more forceful or expressive words found in 
the copy, adding an illustration or adapting a figure of 
speech. If the story is original it should be revised for the 
purpose of strengthening or improving it in the same way 
that a final polish is bestowed upon the gem that has been 
given its setting but has not yet been offered to the public. 

In the case of a Bible story there must be no violation 



74 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

of facts. Descriptive and explanatory statements must be 
based on knowledge of manners and customs, times and 
seasons, and the geography of the Holy Land. Commen- 
taries, Bible dictionaries, historical geographies, should be 
consulted in the preparation of a Bible story. When these 
are not available, teachers' textbooks and reliable lesson 
helps should be followed closely for their teaching facts. 

The story may be mastered "by practice in telling it. The 
final step of preparation is the telling and retelling of the 
story to oneself. At first it may be told from the outline, 
but finally the story-teller should practice telling it as she 
will tell it to her pupils, not word for word as it is writ- 
ten, but the events in their order and as it will be possible 
to tell it because of the study put upon it in its prepara- 
tion. 

• The well-rounded or complete story has a beginning, a 
plot, a climax, and an end. In every story there is always 
some kind of a beginning. It may be an explanatory sen- 
tence, a short description, or a question. Its purpose is 
to arouse interest, to challenge the attention, to awaken 
thought, or to arouse feeling. The feeling may be the same 
kind that it is the purpose of the story as a whole to stir. 
In a story for a child the beginning should be brief. 

There is also the movement or action or plot of the 
story, which prepares for or leads to the climax. We are 
told that "the great essential [for this movement] is that 
it shall be orderly, presenting the necessary facts step by 
step, and preparing for the climax without revealing it in 
advance. 1 

The climax is the high light in the word-picture, the 
culmination or point of the story — that which conveys its 
message or truth. The end is that which follows the cli- 
max, completes the story, and leaves the mind satisfied 
and at rest. We are taught that the story should begin 
on the plane of the child's interest and present knowledge, 



1 Stories and Story Telling, St. John. 



THE TECHNIQUE OF STORY-TELLING 75 

rise to the climax by a series of easy steps which the child 
will have no difficulty in following, then drop quickly back 
to the -plane on which it began. 

Story's movement or plot. 



The beginning. 



""The climax. 
/The end. 

Plane of the 
child's interest and present knowledge. 

3. Telling the story. A story should ~be told and not 
read. Only so can it make its strongest appeal. In telling 
the story orally the teacher is not hampered by a book and 
the necessity of following printed words and consequently 
is able to give a more vivid and realistic presentation. She 
is free to gesture, to impersonate a character in dialogue 
or dramatically, to illustrate with pictures or with black- 
board or pad sketching. Because she does these things 
unconsciously, in response to feeling and sympathetic ap- 
preciation of the incidents or characters she is portraying, 
her presentation is clear, vivid, and impressive. Her feel- 
ing is reflected in her face; and because she is looking at 
her listeners, they are able to watch her varying expres- 
sions and to share her feelings. The effectiveness of a 
well-told story is unmistakable; and power to tell a story, 
and to tell it well, may be acquired. Time and effort are 
necessary, but, as one who has mastered the art says: "If 
motives are to be stirred, if conduct is to be guided, if 
character is to be formed, and, especially, if one is to have 
this opportunity many times, he can afford to honor his 
art and take such time and pains as are necessary to per- 
fect his technique. Skill is nothing more than the posses- 
sion of correct habits of procedure. If one way of doing 
a thing is better in the end, it pays to do it the difficult 
way at first because by and by that way will become the 
easy and unconscious mode of procedure as well as the one 



76 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

that leads to the highest achievement. Practice, guided by 
a well-conceived plan, is the chief secret of success." 2 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Choose a Bible story and with the aid only of commen- 
taries, Bible dictionaries, and historical geographies, or 
such helps on the fact side as are available, prepare the 
story for telling to a six-, to a seven-, or to an eight-year- 
old child. State the age of the child to whom you would 
tell the story. 

2. Make an outline of the story in which are given the 
truth you wish to bring to the child and the response that 
you desire. Tell what feelings would be aroused by the 
story. Indicate the steps leading to the climax, and show 
in what way you would end the story, bringing it back to 
the plane of the child's knowledge and experience. 



1 Stories and Story Telling , St. John. 



CHAPTER XII 
USES OF PICTURES IN PRIMARY TEACHING 

One of the contentions of a well-known educator is that 
"thinking begins in what may fairly well be called a 
forked-road situation — a situation which is ambiguous, 
which proposes alternatives. . . . Thinking is not a case 
of spontaneous combustion. . . . There is something spe- 
cific which occasions and evokes it." 1 Applied to primary 
Sunday-school teaching this means that because children 
are grouped around a teacher, apparently listening to what 
she is saying, they do not really think unless there is in 
the lesson an element of the forked-road situation. Some- 
times this appears at the beginning in the form of a ques- 
tion or of a problem adapted to direct the movement of 
the children's ideas along one channel. In teaching by the 
story method "the something specific" to evoke active pur- 
poseful thinking may be presented by the development of 
events in the story. Quite frequently there is a question 
at the end of the story, a decision that must be made, or 
there is something to be done which stimulates to still more 
active thinking. Sometimes a picture is helpful in this 
connection. 

1. Why we use pictures. One of the uses of pictures 
in primary teaching is to evoke thought. The superintend- 
ent who taught New Teacher's class 2 used the picture "In 
the Streets of Capernaum" for this purpose. She might 
have included in her story everything that she wished the 
children to know, but instead she showed the picture and 
asked, "What story do you see in this picture?" The chil- 
dren were obliged to think in order to answer the question, 

1 How We Think. John Dewey. 

2 See Chapter II. 

77 



78 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

and by observing and thinking they arrived at certain con- 
clusions regarding Jesus and gained information independ- 
ently of the teacher. It is obvious that a similar use may 
be made of a picture after a story has been told. 

A picture may be used to give information or furnish a 
necessary experience. Bible stories are so remote in time 
and place, and some customs, manners, objects, and styles of 
dress are so unlike those with which the primary child is 
familiar, that he cannot understand what we tell him 
without the aid of an object or descriptive picture. What 
does he know of the Ark of the Covenant, the Bedouin tent, 
the room on the housetop, the custom of reclining at table, 
or the shepherd's dress? By means of objects and suita- 
ble pictures he may gain a fairly accurate knowledge of all 
these things. Pictures of places and of people give a sense 
of reality to Bible stories, but have a limited use with chil- 
dren, because their interest is in action or pictures that 
tell a story. 

If there is something about which the child must know 
in order to follow and understand the story, the picture 
should be shown before the story is told. To introduce a 
picture during the telling is apt to divert attention from 
the main issue and weaken its impression. If it is not 
necessary for the child to see the fact picture (as the 
descriptive picture might be called) until after the story, 
it should be kept until that time. It is better for the 
child to construct his own mental pictures, with the aid 
of his imagination while the story is being told, and then, 
after it has been told, to have wrong impressions corrected 
and right ideas made more definite by means of a picture 
shown by the teacher. This same principle is to be ob- 
served in the use of a story picture. It should be reserved 
until the story has been told. 

Pictures may be used to appeal to the imagination and 
feelings. Pictures that portray life and action are like 
stories because their truth is conveyed largely through the 
power of suggestion. In the story it is rarely that the 



HANDWORK AS AN AID TO TEACHING 79 

truth is stated in so many words. It becomes apparent 
through the story's movement and the word-picturing of 
cause and effect. A picture differs from a story in that it 
portrays only one moment of time. It does not give that 
which precedes or follows that particular moment as does 
the story; this is left to one's imagination to create, which 
is one reason why a story-picture evokes thought, and why 
the child's enjoyment of it is so great. 

A story-picture appeals also to the feelings. The reason 
for this is because it represents thoughts, feelings, and ac- 
tions. Take, for example, the picture of "Christ and the 
Children," by Plockhorst, which suggests Christ's attitude 
toward children through the action portrayed. After look- 
ing at it a little girl of beginners' age said, "He took little 
children in his arms and loved them," and the quality of 
tone in her voice indicated that she was responding with 
love to the love she felt in the picture. 

Two principles are involved in a child's response to a 
picture. It is possible for a picture to hang on the walls 
of a Sunday-school room without the child's becoming con- 
scious of it. It needs to be examined and talked about in 
his presence if he is to give attention to it. The little be- 
ginner had been told the story of Jesus and had examined 
the picture. It is probable that this was the reason why 
the next time she saw it she explained it in her own beau- 
tiful, childlike way. Moreover, pictures used in connection 
with a lesson and for the purpose of arousing the child's 
self-activity should be handled by the child. It is said: 
"Effective and integral thinking is possible only when the 
experimental method in some form is used. ... In elemen- 
tary education it is still assumed, for the most part, that 
the pupil's natural range of observations, supplemented by 
what he accepts on hearsay, is adequate for intellectual 
growth . . . but the entire scientific history of humanity 
demonstrates that the conditions for complete mental ac- 
tivity will not be obtained until adequate provision is made 
for the carrying on of activities that actually modify phy- 



80 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

sical conditions, and that books, pictures, and even objects 
that are passively observed but not manipulated do not 
furnish the provision required." 3 It is in accordance with 
this principle that pictures in a picture roll are not as 
desirable as smaller pictures for each child in the class to 
handle and study. Small classes in the Primary Depart- 
ment with eight children to a class make the use of a 
picture for handling possible and desirable. There should 
be a picture for each class, not one for a group of classes. 4 
The second principle referred to has its basis in the 
nature of the imaginative faculty, which is most active 
when the real is not present to the eyes of sight but is sug- 
gested. Take, for example, the .story. "God's Promise to 
Mary." Suppose you were telling a part of it in some such 
way as this: "One day an angel came to Mary. We do not 
know where she was. She may have been on the housetop 
at evening watching the stars and listening to the soft 
night winds. She may have been in her garden taking care 
of her flowers. She may have been in her own room talk- 
ing to God in prayer. She may have been in her own bed 
asleep and dreaming." As you made these different sug- 
gestions, what would happen? Each child would begin to 
create pictures with materials furnished from his own ex- 
perience. He would see a bit of the evening sky dotted 
with stars, because he had seen it, possibly, from the win- 
dow of his room. He would see a garden resembling one 
in which he had played. It is probable that he would^ pic- 
ture Mary kneeling beside a bed like his or sleeping in a 
style of bed he knew best. No two children would see the 
same pictures, but each would be busy imagining, creating, 
and therefore visualizing the story. If as you told the 
story you had showed a picture to illustrate each sugges- 
tion, the children's minds would not have been active in 
any of these ways; each child, if he thought at all, would 



8 How We Think, John Dewey. 

4 See "Primary Picture Sets, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3," and the "Pri- 
mary Missionary Picture Set." 



HANDWORK AS AN AID TO TEACHING 81 

have thought in terms of the picture exhibited. The 
"forked-road" element would have been entirely lacking. 
Our second principle, then, is this: Pictures should be 
used to stimulate the activity of the imagination. This 
means that if you are to show one in connection with a 
story, tell the story first. Let the child create and color 
his own pictures. Then, after the story has been told and 
its impression made, produce the picture best adapted to 
interpret the story. It will bring a fresh appeal and so 
deepen that made by the story. 

The picture may be such that the showing of it at the 
close of the story will occasion thinking. More frequently 
it is advisable to ask: "What story does the picture tell?" 
or "What does this picture say to you?" If it contains 
interesting details explanatory of manners and customs, 
these should be discovered and discussed by the children 
in response to questions on the part of the teacher. The 
aim in the use of pictures, as in all teaching, should be to 
cause the child to take the initiative. 

Pictures may be used to lead to the forming of judgments 
and to inspire to action. An act is either right or wrong; 
consequently, from a picture portraying action that a child 
understands he cannot help but form a judgment and gain 
an idea of right or wrong. Action viewed and understood 
in another tends to inspire to similar action. 5 Therefore, 
pictures may be used to give ideas of right conduct and 
to lead to the performance by the child of many right acts 
that are desirable and helpful to character formation. 6 

Pictures are aids to narration and description. It is de- 
sirable for the child to gain the power to retell stories and 
to give or write original statements about a story. It is 
easier for him to do this from a picture. It helps him to 
recall details and leaves him freer to express himself. Not 
all children are able to retell a story orally; they find it 
easier to express themselves in writing. Others find it 



5 See Chapters V and VI. 

6 See Chapter XV. 



82 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

easier to tell a story than to write one. In either case the 
picture tends to make the story vivid and the task of com- 
position easier. When a group of stories are to be reviewed, 
it is helpful to permit each child in the class to choose 
a picture and tell the story of which it reminds him. 

The use of pictures deepens appreciation of beauty, life, 
and truth. The child who lives in the midst of sordidness 
may have beauty brought to him by means of pictures, 
more especially nature pictures. Similarly, through the 
use of pictures the child whose world is small may be made 
acquainted with child life everywhere and have his love 
and sympathies quickened. There is scarcely an intellec- 
tual and spiritual need of the child which cannot be met 
in part by pictures; for a picture is like a story, and a 
story is a means for influencing life and character. 7 

2. How to judge a picture. Pictures should be suited 
to the purpose of the department and to the child. Our 
purpose in the Primary Department is to nurture the de- 
veloping religious life; therefore, we do not use all kinds 
of pictures. We eliminate the crude and grotesque and 
choose instead those which are beautiful and inspiring. 

Pictures should be beautiful; they should also be true. 
If they illustrate a Bible story they should be true to Bible 
times, lands, and customs. If they depict a moment in a 
life or an event, they should be true to the life and time. 
Pictures should also be on the child's plane of interest and 
understanding. "Whether the power of the object over the 
heart [is] to be small or great [depends] altogether upon 
what it [is] understood for, upon its being taken posses- 
sion of and apprehended in its full nature." 8 The faculty 
with which we apprehend a picture Ruskin calls "the pos- 
session-taking power of the imagination" ; but as great as 
this power is, it cannot give the idea of the unknown unless 
the unknown bears some relation to the known. For this 
reason pictures used for religious nurture must be such 



7 See Chapter IX. 

8 Modern Painters, Ruskin. 



HANDWORK AS -AN AID TO TEACHING 83 

as the child can interpret, and to which he may respond 
in a way that will be helpful to him. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Make a study of pictures used in primary Sunday- 
school teaching. If possible, see those offered for use in 
teaching the graded primary lessons; the pictures in the 
folders and those in the picture sets. 

2. Select and give the titles of two or more pictures 
adapted to evoke thought; to give information; to furnish 
a necessary experience; to give reality to Bible lands and 
stories; to tell a story; to appeal to the feelings; to bring a 
religious truth to the child; to lead to the forming of a 
judgment concerning some action; to inspire to action de- 
sirable for a child. Tell how this action would contribute 
to the child's religious development. 

3. If you were telling the story of how Jesus fed many 
hungry people at Bethsaida, and had a picture of the event, 
when would you show it, — before telling the story or after- 
ward? Give reasons for your answer. In Bible Stories for 
the Sunday School and Home, Year 2, Lesson 24, a picture 
of a western wheat field is provided for this story. How 
would you use it and when? 



CHAPTER XIII 

HELPING THE CHILD TO MAKE THE LESSON HIS 

OWN 

In recent years, since a large use has been made of the 
oral treatment of stories in elementary education, it has 
been found that the story is an effective means of bringing 
about a healthy, vigorous action of the child's mind and 
physical energies. The child takes fast hold of ideas 
brought to him in a story and, when he is at liberty to 
do so, reacts to them. In his most active moments he plays 
the story. 1 In his quiet hours he represents its persons or 
scenes pictorially and its objects either pictorially or con- 
structively. 

The six-year-old child finds satisfaction in the pictures 
he draws or paints. If he has had some training in paper 
tearing and cutting, he may try to picture a scene or object 
in either of these ways. Between seven and eight years 
of age he is not so likely to picture action, but prefers to 
represent objects and to accomplish results that seem to 
him worth while. Primary children of all three years de* 
light in working with soft wood, paper boxes, raffia, con- 
struction paper, cloth, and clay, and in making models of 
real things with which to illustrate different modes of life. 
Theirs is the age of constructive activity and experimen- 
tation in an effort to understand how things are made and 
their uses. It is recognized that the child's attempt to 
express an idea gives clearness and vividness to the men- 
tal conception. 

1. Values of hand-work. Handwork is an aid to the 
child in making the story his own. When in the Primary De- 
partment we permit the child, after a story has been told, 



1 See Chapter XX. 

84 



PRACTICAL HELPS FOR THE CHILD 85 

to do something with his hands to express an idea gained 
from the story or to carry out some impulse, we are work- 
ing in harmony with his natural tendencies and desires. 
If it is something that he finds pleasure in doing, as it 
should be, we are establishing happy associations with the 
lesson and in this way helping the story, and therefore its 
teaching, to become the child's permanent possession. It 
is said: "Happiness, joy in the performance of the given 
task, an instinctive interest in the duty at hand — ail this 
implies a happy adjustment of the learner to the lesson 
and also the largest measure of progress in learning. , ' 2 
Moreover, the larger the number of helpful associations es- 
tablished in connection with the lesson, the more fixed will 
it become "in the memory. The child who has heard a story, 
handled a picture illustrating it, and expressed his own idea 
of the story in a way to give him satisfaction and pleasure 
will have a much more vivid memory of it than if he had 
only heard it. "It is entirely certain," says Professor Col- 
vin, "that a very large part of our effective memory is based 
upon associations, and education must find its problem in 
forming the most helpful associations, so that the memories 
involved may be utilized in the most serviceable manner/' 3 

Handwork as a method of teaching is appropriate for use 
in the Primary Department on Sunday. The purpose of 
the instruction given in the Primary Department is the 
development of character. The instruction is given largely 
by the story method. Certain forms of handwork connected 
with a story help the child to make the story his own and 
tend to deepen its impression. Handwork used for this 
purpose and also as a form of lesson expression has a legit- 
imate place in the Primary Department on Sunday. But it 
is to be distinguished from busy work. (See Chapter XIV.) 

Handwork should he an expression of the child's idea as 
far as this is possible. To provide for the child's free ex- 
pression of the idea and at the same time make sure that 



2 How to Become an Efficient Sunday-School Teacher-, McKeever. 

3 The Learning Process, Colvin, Chapter IX : "Memory." 



$6 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

what is done fulfills the purpose of the story is at times 
exceedingly difficult. Left to himself, the child would 
probably stop on a low plane of accomplishment. He needs 
to employ his developing powers and abilities and will do 
this only at the instigation of the teacher. It lies within 
the teacher's province to influence his decision as to what 
he shall do and how he shall do it, but her aim should be 
not to dictate. By the wise use of questions and sugges- 
tions it Is possible for the teacher to guide the child's 
thinking in such a way that while her purpose is achieved, 
the initiative is the child's, and the work is the expression 
of his own idea. 

2. Examples from life. Contrast the methods of 
three teachers. Three first-year teachers had. each been 
telling the story "God the Creator of All Things," 4 the pur- 
pose of which is to direct the child's attention to things that 
may be clearly seen in the world of nature, to help him 
to think and question about them, and to respond with a 
feeling of reverent love for God and the impulse to be lov- 
ing, kind, and good. 5 One teacher said to her pupils, "Now 
that you have heard the story what would you like to do?" 
They answered, "Draw pictures with colored crayons." Pa- 
pers and crayons were distributed, and the children bent 
to their occupation. One child, the leader of the group, 
began to draw trees and flowers, and the children nearest 
her began to draw trees and flowers. One child drew a flow- 
er she had drawn the preceding week in school. Another 
tried to draw an animal. The children were interested, 
and happy associations were being established with the 
story, helping them to recall it. The teacher asked no 
questions, made no comments, said nothing to link the 
activity and lesson together; she considered it sufficient 
for the children to express their ideas each in her own 
way. Each child took her drawing home. 



4 Bible Stories for the Sunday School and Home, Year 1, Lesson 1. 

5 Each teacher had followed a different plan from the one de- 
scribed in Chapter VII. Handwork was not made a part of the story 
preparation, but was used after the lesson. 



PRACTICAL HELPS FOR THE CHILD 87 

The second teacher was concerned with the result, be- 
lieving that it should be of value and tend to deepen the 
lesson's impression. For each of her pupils she had pre- 
pared a handwork page with these words written plainly 
across the bottom: "To help me think of something beau- 
tiful which God has made." She distributed these pages, 
saying, "To-day for our handwork we are going to paste 
a picture to help us think of something beautiful which 
God has made." Next she gave each child, to paste upon 
his page, a beautiful colored picture of a flower. The 
children in this class were as interested in pasting as the 
children in the other class were in drawing. They were 
pleased with the results, which, as results alone, had a 
greater value than the crude drawings; for each time a 
child looked at his pasted picture — and he would look at 
it often, because he had pasted it — and read or recalled 
the words written underneath, he would be reminded that 
it is God who "hath made everything beautiful in its time." 

To her pupils the third teacher said, "If you could do 
something with your hands about the story that I have 
just told you, what would you like to do?" The children 
had come from the Beginners' Department and spoke from 
their experience there. One child said that he would like 
to draw a picture of a flower. Another expressed a desire 
for a picture of a bird to paste. The other children were 
divided in their opinions. Some wanted to draw, and oth- 
ers to paste pictures. Of the children who wished to draw 
flowers the teacher asked, "Why do you want to draw a 
flower?" 

"To help us think of real flowers," was the answer. 

"Why do you want to think of real flowers? Can anyone 
tell?" were the next questions. 

"Because God makes the flowers grow," said a child who 
had not spoken before, but had listened most attentively 
to the story. At this time the teacher distributed hand- 
work pages and said: "Those of you who would like to 
draw may draw a picture to help you think of something 



THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 






beautiful which God has made. Those of you who would 
like to paste a picture may select one from among these;" 
and she laid down several appropriate subjects upon the 
table. There were pictures of flowers, birds, and fruits. 
With one exception the children decided to paste a picture 
and spent a few thoughtful moments in choosing one. As 
soon as each child had selected his subject he experimented 
in placing it on his handwork page. After he had decided 
upon its position, and it had been approved by the teacher, 
he held the picture while she applied a small amount of 
paste near its top and bottom edges; then the child laid 
it properly on the page and pressed it gently with the tips 
of his fingers until it adhered to the paper. By the time 
the pasting was completed the child who had chosen to 
draw a picture was ready to exhibit his work, and teachers 
and children spent a few moments in admiring the different 
pictures and in talking about God's good gifts and what 
they themselves would try to do because they loved and 
thanked him. The pupils in this class, as in the preceding, 
fastened the handwork pages into book covers, so that, 
finally, each child might have an attractive book of Bible 
stories and handwork for use at home. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Compare the methods of the three teachers and give 
their points of likeness and unlikeness. 

2. Tell what you think of each method, noting its strong 
points. Note weaknesses or failures. 

3. Tell what you think is the real purpose of handwork 
done in the Primary Department on Sunday during a one- 
hour session. 

4. What do you think is the value of giving permanency 
to a child's work? 

5. What effect has a careless use of the child's work upon 
his idea of the importance of the Sunday-school lesson? 

6. What should be some of the requirements of work 
to be preserved? 



CHAPTER XIV 

CONCERNING THE CHOICE OF MATERIALS AND 
FORMS OF HANDWORK 

The usual Primary-Department session is one hour long. 
Its purpose is not only to give religious instruction but 
also to provide experience and training in worship. Half 
an hour is required for the opening service, the offering 
and birthday services, and the teaching of new songs. This 
leaves half an hour for instruction. In this time there 
is usually a short review of the lesson taught the preceding 
Sunday. The review is followed by the lesson for the day. 
As a part of the story preparation or after the story there 
is handwork. It is obvious that not more than eight to 
twelve minutes may be given to it, and that this is too 
short a time in which to teach the use of materials and 
develop a control of tools. 

1. Choice of materials. The materials used for hand- 
work should be those which the child knows how to manip- 
ulate. The work done must be something that the child 
knows how to do and can do quickly. What may be done 
in a two-hour session or in a week-day class meeting for 
religious instruction is another matter. 

Certain materials and forms of handwork are "better 
adapted for use in Sunday school on Sunday than others. 
Water colors and clay are admirable for expressive pur- 
poses, but disastrous to Sunday suits and dresses, clean 
hands and faces. The distribution of materials requires 
so much time that little is left for working; accordingly, 
painting and clay modeling have been found impracticable 
for Primary-Department uses on Sunday. 

From wood, cardboard, paper boxes, and construction 
paper, objects, models, and gifts may be made; but con- 

89 



90 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

struction work of this kind is almost impossible because 
of the limitations imposed by the length of the primary- 
session and by the arrangement of the usual Primary De- 
partment. Construction work requires time, the use of a 
variety of materials and tools, and space in which to work. 
In most Primary Departments classes are arranged in close 
proximity to each other, and the only work that may be 
undertaken is that which the pupils can do while seated 
quietly in their seats. 

In departments where the pupils of each year or grade 
go to separate rooms for the instruction, the handwork 
may assume a wholly different character: it may become 
more truly expressive work. The children may also coop- 
erate in playing the story and in picturing it upon a sand 
table by using models and objects that they themselves 
have made. Personification of characters, dialogue, panto- 
mime, and other forms of dramatic story representation 
are helpful to the child; but in departments where children 
of three grades or years must meet for the instruction, 
and where the session is only one hour long, it is exceed- 
ingly difficult to arrange for such work. It is a hopeful 
sign that in some Sunday schools classes for week-day re- 
ligious instruction are being inaugurated. In the school 
where there are such classes, and the Sunday and week- 
day work are correlated, interesting forms of handwork, 
dramatic story representation, and other expressive activi- 
ties may each have a place to the advantage of the pupils. 

As our Primary Departments are now organized and 
conducted, about all that the children can do in class to 
represent a story dramatically is to assume a character 
and read or tell the story at opportune places. The best 
forms of handwork for use on Sunday in a one-hour ses- 
sion are drawing, coloring, pasting, and writing. Some 
teachers find it possible to add paper tearing and cutting; 
others some forms of paper folding and picturing on a 
class table by means of models and toys. 
2. Desirable forms of handwork. Drawing and color- 



MATERIALS AND FORMS OF HANDWORK 91 

ing, pasting and writing, lend themselves to expressive 
work. The six-year-old child who, with pencil or colored 
crayons, pictures an event or moment in the story he has 
heard is giving expression to his idea. Such work adds 
another association with the lesson and tends to make the 
lesson vivid. Similarly, the six-, seven-, or eight-year-old 
child's thought is stimulated, and his idea of a model and 
object is clarified by the attempt to picture it. When re- 
sults are crude, and pictures portraying action ridiculous, 
it is advisable for the children to give their drawings to 
the teacher and not to preserve them in a handwork book. 
Drawings of flowers, fruits, objects, and certain attempts 
at scenery bearing a relation to the lesson may be pre- 
served. 

All children of primary age delight in the use of colored 
crayons. If they might have their own way, they would 
do little else than color, but this would be stopping on a 
low plane of accomplishment. They are acquiring the 
ability to write and should be encouraged to express them- 
selves in writing. Some teachers contend that seven- and 
eight-year-old children find writing irksome, but usually 
this is due to the teacher's faulty method or to a misun- 
derstanding of the primary child's ability. 

A six-year-old child is only learning to write. Toward 
the end of the year he may ask for a pencil and try to show 
what he can do; but drawing, coloring, and pasting are 
more nearly in line with his abilities than writing. The 
seven-year-old child is outgrowing story-picturing and is 
not skillful in drawing objects. It is not advisable for him 
to do coloring or pasting with each lesson. There are les- 
sons with which he should be asked to copy answers to 
questions, short sentences, stories, and memory verses. He 
needs a copy to follow because it is difficult for him to re- 
member how to spell words and the forms of written let- 
ters. This copying need not be mechanical; it may be an 
expression of the child's idea. For example: If after tell- 
ing a story the teacher says, "Let us think what we would 



92 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

like to write about the story," writes down each state- 
ment made, and then helps the children to agree upon 
one and to write it, the written work becomes an expres- 
sion of the child's idea. If the statement is not the best, 
the teacher may write one and give it to the children to 
copy after they have copied their own. The value of the 
work is to be found in the added association with the lesson 
and the idea put into permanent form by means of writing 
and placing in the handwork book. 

A child eight years old is able to answer questions and 
to write a short original statement or a story about the 
lesson story, but he should do this written work after he 
has answered the question orally or made his statement. 
If possible, he should tell the story he is about to set down 
on paper. Writing is an absorbing occupation, and it is 
desirable for him to have what he is to write well in mind 
before he undertakes to write it. The work is then an ex- 
pression of his own idea and gives him satisfaction and 
pleasure. He is proud of his achievement; and every time 
he turns to it in his book of handwork the statement of 
truth or the story that will help him to recall the story 
told by the teacher is there for him to read. It must not 
be supposed that writing is an aid to memorization. Its 
value lies in the child's interest in his work and in the 
permanency given the idea set forth. Similarly, with re- 
gard to the pasting of pictures the value is not in the me- 
chanical act of pasting but in the act of selection. The 
picture should be one chosen by the child from among 
different subjects. In this way the pasting becomes ex- 
pressive work. 1 

3. How to test the value of handwork. HandivorTc to 
be done in connection with any lesson should "be tested by 
its relation to that lesson and the lesson purpose. Will it 
prepare the child for the lesson and help him to under- 
stand it? Will it teach a lesson fact or deepen the impres- 



1 See Chapter XIII and the admirable methods followed by the 
third teacher. 



MATERIALS AND FORMS OF HANDWORK 93 

sion of the lesson truth? Will it help the child by its sug- 
gestion or the impulse it gives to action to carry over into 
his own life some right thought, word, or deed? 2 If the 
work proposed answers this test it is handwork in the 
proper use of the word. If it does not, if its value lies in 
its attractiveness alone, or if it has only a passing and not 
a permanent teaching value, it is busy work. A clear 
distinction should always be made between handwork and 
busy work. Busy work should be used only occasionally in 
the Sunday school if at all. 

Busy work is attractive to most children. It is some- 
thing that they may do by themselves and without the dic- 
tation or direction of the teacher, and they like to do it. 
Filling in outlines of letters or memory verses with cray- 
ons or paints, coloring pictures, tracing or filling in pic- 
tures in outline, are types of busy work. Such work is 
mechanical, has little teaching value, and may be done by 
the children at home. 

4. Directing the handwork. The teacher should be 
familiar with each detail of the work she expects her pupils 
to do. This familiarity is to be gained only by doing it 
first as a part of the lesson preparation. 

The materials for use should be in readiness and in order. 
There should be no assembling of materials during the les- 
son period. This should be done before Sunday school. 3 
Proper tools should be ready for use. The Sunday-school 
session is not the time in which to sharpen pencils, get 
out pictures for pasting, or prepare handwork pages. 

The handwork should be directed by the class teacher, 
but the teacher should be under the direction of the super- 
intendent, director of instruction, or supervisor of the chil- 
dren's departments. This assumes, of course, that the one 
who is at the head of the department understands the 
theory and practice of handwork and is capable of direct- 



2 See Chapter XII, on the use of pictures. 

3 See Lesson II and the use of basket by the teacher who taught 
the lesson. 



94 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

ing it and supervising the teachers. Otherwise a teacher 
or assistant should be in charge of the handwork. 

Class tables on which the children may work are a con- 
venience but not a necessity. Heavy cardboards, a low 
shelf around the sides of the room upon which to lay work, 
or even the seats of the chairs are substitutes for tables; 
but it must be remembered that no makeshift gives com- 
plete satisfaction. The best work can be done under the 
best conditions. The time for doing handwork varies. With 
some lessons the best time is before the story; with other 
lessons, after the story, as a form of lesson expression. 
Handwork may also be used in connection with the lesson 
review, as a form of recall. 

Children should be encouraged to work neatly and for 
results that are worth while. The work, as far as possible, 
should quicken the child's appreciation of the beautiful, 
for such an appreciation will make him more responsive 
to that which is beautiful in character and life. Handwork 
has many values and is an effective means of religious 
education if developed in the right way and made to serve 
the purpose of the instruction. 

The Lessor Continued 

1. Choose a Bible story and illustrate it by drawing. 

2. With clay or plasticine construct a model with which 
to illustrate a detail in a Bible story. 

3. With cardboard, paper boxes, or construction paper 
construct a model that may be used on the sand table in 
reproducing some mode of life about which the children 
should know. 

4. Choose a Bible story adapted to give an impulse to 
action. Find and mount a picture of child life adapted to 
give added potency to this impulse. 

(Note.— A teacher studying this book as a part of a 
correspondence course may write descriptions of her hand- 
work, send her work for criticism, or send photographs 
of it.) 



CHAPTER XV 

HELPING THE CHILD TO BUILD THE LESSON INTO 
HIS CHARACTER 

A little girl, a pupil in a certain Primary Department, 
fell while at play and injured herself in such a way that 
when she left the hospital she would be obliged to wear a 
brace and use a crutch. It was learned that her compan- 
ions in Sunday school might assist in procuring these, and 
for several weeks the children earned or saved money 
from their allowance and gave it as a special offering. The 
money was deposited in what was called the "gold box" — 
a pasteboard box covered with gold paper to make it bright 
and attractive. * By the time the bill was settled it had be- 
come a habit with many of the children to give regularly 
of their own money, and they continued to bring contribu- 
tions for Sunday school and charitable purposes. 

1. Tlie significance of feeling and impulse. Habit 
has its beginnings in feeling and impulse. It was the chil- 
dren's sympathy for their little friend in the hospital which 
gave them the desire to help her. This impulse led them 
to make sacrifices, to work, and to give. By so doing they 
learned what it means to do for others and to give, for "no 
thought is ever definite until it has been consciously lived 
out or wrought out/' 1 and they formed the habits of ready 
response to the need of others and of personal giving. 

Feeling and impulse must find expression in action. It 
was just a little first-year lad, the boy who listened so at- 
tentively to the story of the Israelites bringing gifts for 
the building of the tabernacle. 2 His eyes still shone in 
appreciation of the people "who gave more than was need- 

1 Dynamic Factors in Education, O'Shea. 

2 Bible Stories for the Sunday School and Home, Year 1, Lesson 10. 

95 



96 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

ed." When the children were reminded that Christmas 
was approaching and were asked what they would like to 
do or to whom they would like to give to remember the 
birthday of Jesus, they decided to make two offerings: one 
of money to help pay for repairs on the Sunday-school 
building, and one of scrapbooks for children in the home 
for crippled children. When opportunity was given the 
lad to speak, he leaned forward and said: "I have a whole 
bank full of money at home. I will give it all." His teacher 
suspected that he might not be permitted to carry out his 
generous intention and suggested, "Bring what father and 
mother are willing for you to give, and bring it next Sun- 
day." He brought no more than his usual offering and 
showed no interest in what he or the other children gave 
that day or following Sundays. Because he did not act in 
response to his desire, the desire and impulse faded away. 
By means of this negative story a positive truth becomes 
apparent — namely, that if feelings are to become perma- 
nent attitudes, and acts are to become fixed as habits, feel- 
ings and impulses must find expression in action. 

2. Guiding the child's impulse. The young child needs 
help and guidance in carrying out his impulses. It is 
possible that after leaving Sunday school the child who was 
so eager to give went* away with his parents or had some 
experience that caused him to forget his intentions. It 
is far more probable that permission to take money out of 
his bank was refused. If his parents had understood that 
giving money of his own would be a helpful character- 
building experience, they would have made it possible for 
him to earn money or would have helped him to do with- 
out something he wanted, so that he might share in the 
giving. Parents need to understand that the lessons taught 
in Sunday school are for the children's good and their re- 
ligious nurture. The Primary Department also has its 
part to fulfill. 

It has been said repeatedly that the appeal of the stories 
we tell in the Primary Department is to the feelings. Their 



HELPING THE CHILD TO BUILD CHARACTER 97 

purpose is to call forth desires and impulses that will lead 
to action and will aid in establishing habits. For the 
reason that not all parents understand and are able to 
cooperate with the Sunday school, the Primary Department 
should not wholly depend on the home. It should make 
as definite provision for expressional activities as for reli- 
gious instruction and worship. If the feeling stirred is 
one that may be expressed in Sunday school — such as praise 
or gratitude to God — opportunity should be given the chil- 
dren to express the feeling in worship. If the impulse 
aroused may be expressed best in acts of service, there 
should be services for the children to render, errands for 
them to go upon, the room to be put in order at the close 
of the session, the blackboard to clean, books and equip- 
ment to replace, signals and rules to obey promptly and 
cheerfully, and many kindnesses to perform for others. If 
there are pictures to be collected for Christmas gift books 
for hospital or other uses, if there is money to be earned 
or saved, the children need to be reminded of what they 
are to do at home and encouraged to carry out their pur- 
poses. Attractive envelopes in which to place pictures, 
boxes or bags in which to bring their money, attractive 
boxes or baskets for the reception of their offerings, re- 
minders in the way of post cards sent to the children or 
notes to their parents, are among the helpful devices that 
may be employed. 

3. The necessity of action. Action in response to 
right impulses is necessary for the child's training in reli- 
gion and growth in Christian character. By way of fur- 
ther illustration and to understand better what is meant, 
take the ease of the little girl who was an only child and 
greatly beloved by her parents and other adult relatives. 
Up to the time when she was between three and four years 
old, her experience had been almost wholly that of receiv- 
ing. Her parents realized her need to experience real giv- 
ing — that is, the parting with something that was her own. 
They proposed going to see a younger child and taking her 



98 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

a gift. The desire to take a toy from among the child's 
collection was called forth. The child made her selection, 
and then mother and little daughter went at once to pay 
the visit and bestow the toy. The experience was a happy 
one throughout. It was an effort toward getting the habit 
•of giving started and of helping the child to understand 
what it means to give. 

Children of primary age are like this little girl. They 
need to do right, first, that desirable habits may be started; 
but secondly, that the concept of duty may emerge, and con- 
science may be quickened. These steps are necessary if, 
finally, the children are to determine their own conduct 
and to act in response to duty and from the motive of love 
and obedience to God. 

Neither the form of expression nor the specific act should 
"be imposed upon the child by the teacher; as far as possible, 
both should be of his own initiating. When the desire or 
impulse occasioned by a story may be expressed concretely, 
the children should have an active part in proposing and 
discussing what may be done, in deciding what is best, and 
in planning for its accomplishment. The teacher's part is 
to guide by the skillful use of suggestions and questions 
and to see that the means for carrying out the activity are 
available. In addition she should encourage conversation 
about what the children will try to do at home in response 
to a lesson. She should help them to understand their 
failures and should encourage further effort, for not all 
lessons can be acted on in Sunday school under the direc- 
tion of the teacher. Many lessons are designed to help 
the child meet problems and overcome temptations in his 
liome, school, and play life; others are expressed by the 
child in quiet hours — when he kneels by his bed to pray, 
when he feels his need of forgiveness and of strength with 
which to be good. These are the times when the Spirit of 
God speaks to the child's spirit; and if in the child's heart 
there are love, trust, obedience, and reverence, he well ex- 
press these religious feelings in prayer and prayerlike 



HELPING THE CHILD TO BUILD CHARACTER 99 

thoughts, building habits of communion with God into his 
character. Character has been called "the summation of 
habit." Habit is formed by the repetition of an act; 
therefore, when we deepen the child's religious feelings 
and help him to perform some religious and Christlike act 
we are helping him to build a Christian character, which 
is our ultimate purpose. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Think of something the primary pupils mighf'do for 
others at the Christmas or Easter season. 

2. Tell how you would proceed to awaken interest and to 
arouse impulses, and what you would do to aid the chil- 
dren in the undertaking. 

3. Make a list of everyday acts of service which a child 
may do for others. What means should the teacher take to 
suggest such acts to the child? 



CHAPTER XVI 
WORSHIP IN THE PRIMARY DEPARTMENT 

In every regular session of the Primary Department pro- 
Tision is made not only for instruction and its correlated 
activities but also for worship. The purpose of this lesson 
is to consider the worship in the Primary Department and 
its relation to the religious development of the child. 

1. The significance of children's worship. Worship is 
an act of actual communion with God. As a consequence 
it is not something that may be accomplished for the child 
but must be the child's own act — even in a service par- 
ticipated in by others. 

Worship is necessary for the child's religious develop- 
ment. To the instruction given in the Primary Department, 
and more especially to the Bible stories that are told, the 
child responds in some way. Among the stories are those 
that quicken his appreciation of the Fatherhood and near- 
ness of God. There are many that reveal to him God's 
infinite love and never-failing care. The child responds 
with purest feelings of awe, wonder, reverence, humility, 
dependence, gratitude, and love. These are among the feel- 
ings that influence the child's attitude and personal bear- 
ing toward God. Do you ask, "What shall be done with 
them?" We answer, "Make them permanent; build them 
into the child's character." From preceding lessons it is 
readily understood that if these feelings are not to pass 
away, as did the child's desire to give when it was not 
acted on, 1 they must be expressed. Worship is the most 
fitting expression of these feelings, and we plan for the 
child to express them in worship. 

The child's ivorship should oe suited to him and meet 



1 See page 96. 

100 



WORSHIP IN THE PRIMARY DEPARTMENT 101 

some present need in his life. The songs, hymns, prayers,, 
and Scripture should be understood by the child, or such 
that he can come to understand through their use. They 
should express his thoughts and religious feelings and at 
the same time lift him to higher planes of thinking and 
feeling, for in no other way can his worship contribute to 
his religious nurture. 

In a service of worship in which the child participates 
he draws near to his heavenly Father. He gains an added 
sense of God's reality and feels himself to be under God's 
observation. Such feelings tend to strengthen the child's 
confidence in God's care, deepen his love, call forth his 
efforts for self-control and right conduct, and help him to 
live in happy daily companionship with the heavenly 
Father. Thus, there are many reasons why worship is a 
religious experience which the child needs. 

2. Training; children in worship. It is imperative 
that there shall be times for worship and that these times, 
shay occur with something of frequency and regularity. 
The very little child's love and gratitude overflow in joyous 
songs of praise and in spontaneous prayers: "Thank you, 
God, for my new toy. Thank you, God, for everything." 
It is natural to him to add to his finished petition: "I 
am sorry I was naughty to-day. Help me to be a good- 
boy." 

The primary child is more reserved; he does not express 
himself so spontaneously. Interests crowd upon him; and 
unless occasions are arranged for him, he is apt to not 
take time for communion with God. These occasions 
should occur with frequency and regularity, so that he may 
form the habit of worship. To meet the child's need, to 
give him opportunities for worship and training, there 
should be a service of worship in connection with each reg- 
ular session of the Primary Department. 

This does not mean that the primary children are never 
to meet with other departments of the school, are never to 
go into the church for special services, or, after Sunday 



102 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

school is over, are not to go into the church for a short 
service planned for children. It does mean that the pri- 
mary children should not meet regularly with other de- 
partments of the school and have no regular worship of 
their own. Even in a one-room building, where all pupils 
meet together for opening and closing services, the primary 
children, after five or not more than ten minutes of the 
general service, should be permitted to go to their own 
screened corner, that they may still have their own service 
and receive the training they need. 

Our desire and purpose for the child are not that he 
shall worship only in church and Sunday school but that 
he shall form the habit of daily prayer. He may fail in 
this unless he knows how to address God and how to ex- 
press his thoughts and feelings in words. He needs formal 
prayers for certain times and occasions, but far more he 
needs experience in the use of simple sentence prayers 
with which to speak intimately to God. 

The child is given this experience at Sunday school 
and receives the training he needs when, with head bowed 
and eyes closed, he repeats the prayer of the leader clause 
by clause or sentence by sentence. That this prayer may 
be an expression of each child's thought and feeling the 
leader or teacher prepares tfor it by asking the children 
to tell for what they would like to praise or thank God. 
Or she gives them the opportunity to suggest the subject 
for a prayer. This is not done with each prayer, and 
possibly not each Sunday, but frequently. There are occa- 
sions when it is desirable for the children to listen to the 
leader's prayer, for they need to hear thoughts expressed 
which are bigger than their own. It is desirable also to 
give some definite training for prayer by helping the chil- 
dren formulate prayers for use in the different services 
of worship. This should be done during an instruction 
period, in connection with the teaching of the lesson, or 
as an expression of a lesson. 2 The children may write 



! See Chapter VII, page 53. 



WORSHIP IN THE PRIMARY DEPARTMENT 103 

these prayers in a book or preserve copies of them, that 
they may have them for personal use. 

3. The primary service of worship. The service for 
each session of the Primary Department should be care- 
fully and thoughtfully planned. Worship is the child's 
thoughts going out to God and the child's feelings ex- 
pressed in an act of personal communion. For this reason 
the child's worship is not to be lightly regarded. The 
service in which he is to participate should be planned 
with great forethought and conducted in a reverent man- 
ner. Children sense the whole personal bearing of the 
leader as quickly as they do the significance of the hymns 
and prayers, hence the leader should be reverent in spirit 
and not only lead in worship but worship with the chil- 
dren. 

The primary service of worship should have an objective, 
a purpose. Usually this purpose should be to guide the 
child in expressing a religious feeling that is strong and 
intense because of some immediate interest in his life or 
some impulse aroused by the lesson teaching. Occasionally 
the purpose of the worship may be to awaken some feel- 
ing that is necessary to his religious development and to 
help him express it. 

By noting the instruction given in the classes from Sun- 
day to Sunday the leader can tell fairly well what feelings 
are being aroused and plan the service accordingly. Is it 
the springtime of the year, and are the children being led 
to think of God's wonderful power "making all things 
new"? Then in their worship the children should express 
their joy and their gratitude to him for his good gifts of 
opening leaf buds, baby birds in their tree-top nests, flow- 
ering plants, and beauty in life everywhere. Are the sto- 
ries telling of God's care? Then in their worship the chil- 
dien should express their dependence, trust, and gratitude. 
Similarly, all through the year, there should be a close 
correlation of the instruction and the worship. 

Religious feelings may be stirred by worshipful music, 



104 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

a gloriously beautiful day, a moth emerging from its cocoon, 
buds bursting into flower, and other objects of nature, by 
appropriate verses and poetical prose telling of God's power 
and greatness, by hymns or worshipful songs, and by the 
reading or recitation of selected Bible verses. All these 
are means that may be used in the Primary Department for 
arousing religious feeling. Some of these are means by 
which such feeling may be expressed. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Imagine that the Sunday-school superintendent or 
some other officer does not appreciate the importance of a 
primary service of worship. Arrange your defense and 
state the reasons you would present in convincing him 
that the primary children should participate in a service 
of worship planned especially for them and conducted in 
the Primary Department room. 

2. Arrange a service of worship such as you would use 
on a bright, cold day in January, when there is snow on 
the ground. Choose the songs and plan the prayer service 
with special care. 

3. Plan another service suitable for a rainy day in the 
spring. 



CHAPTER XVII 

HOW TO PLAN A PRIMARY PROGRAM 

For each session of the Primary Department there should 
be a plan. A plan formulated step by step constitutes a 
program. A primary program provides for worship and in- 
struction. But instruction must not be part of the worship. 
It may precede, separate, or follow the worship, but must 
be differentiated from it. 

1. Parts of the program. The usual primary service 
of worship divides itself naturally into four parts: the 
opening, the offering, the birthday, and the closing services. 
Besides worship there must be instruction, the teaching of 
words and melodies of songs, hymns and responses, recita- 
tions and reviews of memory verses and correlated lessons, 
story-telling exercises, and the lesson teaching. A distinc- 
tion is to be made by the primary superintendent or leader 
between the worship and the instruction. When teaching, 
her voice and manner may be animated, and she may use 
pictures, tell stories, ask questions, and write or draw upon 
the blackboard. When guiding the worship the leader's 
attitude and manner should be worshipful. Everything 
said and done by her should help to make the children rev- 
erent, for reverence is an emotion that may be communi- 
cated to them. 

2. The opening service. The opening service should 
be one of worship. The quiet music with which teachers 
and pupils are called to attention, the thoughts brought 
to the children by the superintendent or leader as a 
preparation for prayer, should lead the children to 
think of God and to have a sense of his nearness and 
presence. In the prayer the children should express the 
feelings they have for him. 

105 



106 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

To this end appropriate instrumental music has its values. 
When it is time for the primary service to begin, teachers 
and pupils will be in their places looking at pictures, hear- 
ing and reciting memory verses and correlated lessons, or 
talking together about the happenings of the week. Plan 
to call them to attention by means of reverent, worshipful 
music. It is said that "sounds affect us as tone and as 
impulse." For this reason we may call forth, by music 
adapted to our purpose, almost any emotion and impulse 
we wish. For an opening service of worship in the Thanks- 
giving season use music that will be a call to praise. At 
the Christmas season the music may suggest chimes. Ru- 
binstein's "Melody in F" or Mendelssohn's "Spring Song" 
may be used for spring Sundays. For each program ap- 
propriate music may be found. 

After about three minutes of the instrumental music the 
call to worship needs to be given more definitely by means 
of a song or hymn, a greeting or introductory statement by 
the superintendent, or a recitation in unison of appropriate 
Bible verses. To determine what form this further call 
shall take is the next step. It should be a fitting prepara- 
tion for prayer. 

The prayer should not be left to the inspiration of the 
moment. As the next step in program making its content 
and form should be decided. If it is to be a sentence 
prayer, it should be thought out or written out, for it must 
be suitable in every way. Upon occasion* for a series of 
Sundays the prayer may be one the children have cooper- 
ated in framing. Occasionally it may be a prayer to which 
the children listen. Usually, it should be one in which 
they unite with their teachers in repeating or saying after 
the leader clause by clause or sentence by sentence. In 
this way they have a feeling that they are speaking to 
God. They need the experience of prayer for the nurture 
and enrichment of their religious life. 

The songs or hymns for the opening service should be 
suited to the purpose of the worship as a whole and to the 



HOW TO PLAN A PRIMARY PROGRAM 107 

opening service in particular. For example: If the service 
is to be one of praise and thanksgiving, by means of 
the songs the children should give praise and thanks to 
God. The words of all songs should be suited to the chil- 
dren's power of understanding, and the music to their 
voices. When the music is too high or too low, it may be 
played in a different key, or a high or low note may be 
changed. The one who plans the program and leads the 
worship should choose the songs, but a list of the songs 
to be sung should be prepared for the pianist each Sunday 
and for the leader of the singing. When new songs are to 
be taught, it is advisable for the pianist and leader of the 
singing to practice them together before asking the children 
to sing them. When possible the children should be given 
the opportunity of choosing a new song to learn. If this 
is impracticable, they should have frequent opportunity of 
calling for and singing favorite songs in a special song 
period. 

3. The offering service. The offering and its service 
should be acts of worship. The bringing and giving of 
offerings are acts of obedience and worship, for we read, 
"Bring an offering and come into his courts." To plan 
the offering service is the next step. It is advisable for 
it to follow the opening service, being connected with and 
growing out of it. Moreover, the money or the primary 
treasurer's report will be ready for the school treasurer 
when he calls for it. Whether the children bring their 
offering in envelopes provided by the school for that pur- 
pose or in their hands, there is an advantage in having it 
deposited in a basket or other receptacle at the entrance 
door. In this way the children get it out of their hands 
quickly, and there is no need of going to coats or pocket- 
books at the time of its presentation. If the children in 
each class place their offering in a class envelope, it should 
be collected early and, if possible, before the session. 

At the beginning of the offering service the offering bas- 
ket may be brought to the leader by some child, or the en- 



108 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

velopes may be brought from the classes by a pupil from 
each class. Quiet music, a song, or appropriate Bible verses, 
recited as the offering is brought forward, will create a 
spirit of worship. It is well for the child or children to re- 
main standing before the leader until the close of the 
offering prayer, and then return to the class or classes. 

4. The birthday service. This is not an act of worship, 
but it should nevertheless be made worshipful. Since the 
birthday child brings a birthday offering of as many pen- 
nies as he is years old, a natural time for this service is 
after the regular offering. In most Primary Departments 
the birthday money is devoted to a charitable or mission- 
ary object. The purpose of the offering and service is to 
arouse pleasurable feelings, to establish happy associations 
with God's house, and to have a helpful religious influence 
upon the children. For the last reason it is advisable to 
relegate birthday cakes and candles to the home celebration 
or to a birthday party in the Sunday-school rooms. By 
means of the birthday greeting, song, and prayer the child 
should be carried close to God and made to feel that God 
knows and cares what kind of a child he is. In this way 
he will be given a motive for right conduct. In small de- 
partments, where there are only a few children whose 
birthdays are to be remembered, each child in the room 
may be mentioned by name. In large departments, where 
each Sunday there are many birthday children, it is not 
advisable to do this, for the repetition of name after name 
detracts from the service. In departments where the ses- 
sion is less than an hour a birthday service may be held 
once a month instead of every Sunday. But whatever plan 
is chosen, the leader should have birthday cards ready. 
These may be given in Sunday school or sent through the 
mail. 

5. Instruction. The program should include a period 
for instruction other than lesson teaching. Story-telling 
exercises, the recitation of memory verses, and the teach- 
ing of the words of new songs are usually in charge of the 



HOW TO PLAN A PRIMARY PROGRAM 109 

superintendent. If there is story dramatization, it should 
be in charge of the class teacher or primary superintendent. 
Each week in planning the program the leader must decide 
whether a new song is to be taught or other instruction is 
to be given. Similarly, it is advisable to plan for the period 
following the class work and preceding the closing service. 
This is the superintendent's opportunity for unifying the 
teaching. If she is ready with suitable words of direction 
or appeal, a hymn or song, or a prayer, she may bring the 
instruction to an impressive close and prepare for the clos- 
ing service. 

6. The closing service. This should be one of worship. 
It may be a song or prayer or both, but because of it the 
children should go from God's house feeling that they 
have been in his presence and impressed by this experience. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Give the titles and words of one or two songs appro- 
priate for an opening service of worship in the Primary 
Department; for the primary children to sing at Easter, 
Thanksgiving, and Christmas; for an offering, birthday, 
and closing service in the Primary Department. 

2. Give the details of a primary opening service of wor- 
ship, based upon the theme God's love and care. 

3. Write an offering and a birthday prayer for use with 
primary children. 

4. Visit a primary department and note the program in 
all its details. Were the four essential parts of the program 
adequately provided for? Was there evidence of careful 
preparation? Were the materials of the program and the 
manner of presentation suited to the child's needs. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

A PRIMARY PROGRAM FOR A SUNDAY IN NOVEMBER 

Thanksgiving is approaching. It is desirable for an 
appropriate song to be taught and for preparations to be 
made for a special Thanksgiving activity. The program 
must therefore be planned and conducted with thought 
and care, that the children may not be confused by too 
many ideas, and that full time may be secured for the class 
work and lesson teaching. 

1. Important details. The following details require 
attention before the beginning of the session: (1) Pictures 
of fruits and vegetables and harvest pictures selected for 
use in the room and in developing the Thanksgiving song. 
(2) Pictures and other illustrative material chosen for use 
in first-, second-, and third-year classes. (3) Superintend- 
ent's requisites, Bible, songbooks, and birthday equipment, 
in readiness. (4) The words of the new song written upon 
the blackboard or printed on muslin and placed where 
teachers and pupils may see and read them. 

2. Program detail. 

(1) Purpose of the worship. — To call forth the spirit of 
worship and the impulse of praise and to direct the chil- 
dren's expression of thanks and praise to God. 

(2) Opening service of worship. — (a) Instrumental mu- 
sic: "Sunday morning, ,, in Songs for Little People. (&) 
Song: "The Church," in Songs for Little People: 

"The quiet Sabbath day is here, 
And, pealing forth so loud and clear, 
The chimes of church bell reach the ear, 
Ding! Dong! Ding! x 



1 "Come ! Come ! Come !" may be substituted for "Ding ! Dong ! 
Ding !" 

110 



PROGRAM FOR A SUNDAY IN NOVEMBER 111 

"As to the church we take our way, 
The bells' deep voices seem to say, 
Come worship God this holy day, 
Ding! Dong! Ding! 

"The quiet church is hushed in prayer, 
We bow the head while waiting there, 
And softly falls the golden light 
Thro* arching windows high and bright." 

(c) Preparation for prayer: We have come to Sunday 
school to-day to worship God. We do this when we think 
about him, when we sing songs of praise and thanksgiving, 
and when we speak to him in prayer. What shall we say 
to him to-day? (d) Prayer: (The children should repeat 
the words after the leader, who should try to embody in the 
prayer the suggestions made by the children.) Heavenly 
Father, we thank thee that we may speak to thee in prayer 
and tell thee the thoughts we are thinking. We thank and 
praise thee for this day and for all the days of the week. 
We thank thee for home and food, for love and care, and 
for the many other good gifts about which we are learning 
at the Thanksgiving season. Amen. 2 

(3) Offering service. — (a) Preparation: We may wor- 
ship God in still another way. It is by giving or sharing 
with others the good things we ourselves have received. 
Let us make ready to present our offering and to speak to 
God about it. 

(&) Presentation: (Choose some pupil to bring the offer- 
ing basket forward. If possible to arrange for it, have 
quiet music played as this is done, then ask the questions 
and lead teachers and pupils in repeating the Bible verses: ) 

From whom does every good gift come? 
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, 
coming down from the Father." 

What does the Bible tell us about giving? 
"Freely ye received, freely give." 

2 Later in the year, after the Lord's Prayer has been explained 
and taught, it might be used here. 



112 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

(c) Preparation for prayer: Let us speak to God about 
the gifts we have brought to-day. (d) Prayer: Heavenly 
Father, we are glad to come to Sunday school to-day and 
to give freely for others. May our gifts help to make 
someone happy, help someone to know and love thee and 
Jesus. Amen. 

(4) Birthday service. — (a) Preparation: There is a 
birthday child here to-day. Let us ask him to come for- 
ward so that we may give him our birthday greeting, count 
how many years he is old, and wish him joy and happiness. 
(After the child has come forward, lead the children in 
counting his birthday pennies as they are dropped one by 
one into the birthday bank, in singing the song, and in 
prayer.) (&) Song: "Birthday Wishes," in Carols: 

"Wishes true, 
We bring you 

On this happy birthday. 
Kind and dear, 
Through the year, 

May the Father keep you. 

"Like the air, 
Ev'rywhere, 

May his love surround you; 
In his care, 
All may share, 

He is 'God our Father." 

(c) Birthday prayer: Our Father in heaven, we thank 
thee for happy birthdays and for thy love and care. 
Guard our little friend, be near him, and bless him all 
through the new year. Help him to grow in goodness, to 
be like Jesus, and to take joy wherever he goes. We ask 
it in the name of Jesus. Amen. (Usually the birthday 
service would be followed by the singing of some song 
chosen by the children; but as a new song is to be taught, 
the singing must be omitted.) 

(5) Instruction.— (a) Song: (The thought of the new 
song may be presented by a story or by pictures and con- 






PROGRAM FOR A SUNDAY IN NOVEMBER 113 

versation. After its thought or idea has been developed 
it should be sung to the children. The children may then 
spend a few moments, possibly five, in learning to sing it.) 
(b) Class instruction: First-year classes — Lesson 6, "The 
Gift of Daily Bread"; Memory Verse: "Every good 
gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down 
from the Father." (James 1. 17.) Aim of the lesson: 
to deepen the feelings of love and gratitude to God and the 
impulse to thank him and show him love. Second-year 
classes — Lesson 6, "Nehemiah, the King's Cupbearer." 
Memory Verse: "Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call 
upon him." (Psa. 145. 18.) Aim of the lesson: to lead the 
children to talk intimately to God and to trust God to an- 
swer prayers in the way that is best. Third-year classes — 
Lesson 6, "King David's Kindness to a Lame Man." Mem- 
ory Verse: "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, for- 
giving each other." (Eph. 4.32.) Aim of the lesson: to 
arouse sympathetic feelings for those who are in trouble 
and distress and the impulse to show kindness and to give 
aid. (At the close of the lesson period the classes are to 
be called to attention by quiet music.) 

(6) The superintendent's message to the classes. — Last 
week in our talk together we spoke of a happy day that is 
coming soon. What is the day to which we are looking 
forward with such pleasure? What did we say that Thanks- 
giving Day is especially for? Thanksgiving Day is the day 
for giving thanks to God for his love and care and for his 
good gifts of food. It is also the day for showing our love 
and thanks to God by sharing our good things with others 
or by doing some special thing to make some one happy. 
What would you like to do at the Thanksgiving season, 
and for whom would you like to do it? (Encourage the 
children to make different suggestions. If these are not 
practicable, tell of other things to do or of other people 
to whom pleasure may be given. If the children cannot 
agree, have a plan to suggest and ask for their cooperation 
in doing what you and their teachers think is best. 



114 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

(7) Closing service of worship. — (a) Preparation for 
prayer: Not only by doing some special thing may we 
show love and thanks to God, but by the thoughts we think, 
the things we do, and the words we speak each day. Be- 
fore we go to our homes let us ask for the help and strength 
we need with which to do right. Let us ask for these 
things in the words of our closing song: 

"Sunday school is over for another day; 
Hear us now, dear Father, as to thee we pray. 
Through the week be with us in our work and play; 
Make us kind and loving; help us to obey. Amen." 3 

(8) Dismission. — (a) Outdoor garments taken from the 
coat racks, (b) The children dismissed with quiet music 
when all are ready, (c) Story papers other than the lesson 
folders distributed at the door as the children pass out. 
The folders containing the lesson story and handwork pages 
should be distributed in the classes and used during the in- 
struction period. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. In a primary session only one hour in length what is 
the advantage of having (a) a detailed program, (&) super- 
intendent's requisites ready, and likewise (c) the pianists, 
secretary's, and class teachers' requisites? 

2. How was the purpose of the worship fulfilled — that is, 
by what songs, prayers, and explanations or statements? 

3. Why, do you think, was the word "worship" empha- 
sized in the "preparation for prayer" and in "the offering 
service"? 

4. What relations do you discover between the lessons 
and the service of worship? 

5. How was the lesson teaching unified by the superin- 
tendent's message to the classes and the closing service of 
worship? 



3 Closing Song in Carols. 



CHAPTER XIX 
A PRIMARY* ROOM AND ITS EQUIPMENT 

A frequent criticism of children of primary age is that 
they are noisy and mischievous and thoughtlessly irreverent 
in their classroom. Several causes are as a rule responsi- 
ble for such conduct, but one of these is apt to be the Sun- 
day-school surroundings. The behavior of a young child 
is largely a response to environment. His habits are not 
fixed. He has few standards or ideals of conduct by which 
he is influenced. His acts proceed from impulses, and 
these spring mostly from environing conditions. Hence we 
must look to the primary room itself for one explanation 
of the children's behavior. 

1. Two primary rooms. The way into a certain pri- 
mary room was first through a dark hall and next through 
a long room with rows of unoccupied chairs and a look of 
disorder because it remained as it had been left earlier 
in the day by the Senior Department. The windows in this 
room were only on one side and were high and narrow 
and few in number. The glass in the windows was dark 
and thick; and as the day was gray, very little light pene- 
trated, and the room was almost as dark as the hall that 
led to it. 

The primary room was dingy. The carpet had seen many 
years of service. The walls and ceiling needed fresh paint. 
Because there was no cloakroom or other provision for the 
children's outdoor garments, these were heaped on chairs, 
in corners and along the wall, making for disorder and 
confusion. It was seldom that the room was used in the 
evening; hence, the lighting system was inadequate. The 
few flickering gas lights did not give sufficient light for 
the children to attempt reading or any form of handwork. 

115 



116 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

The room was small. There could be little change of posi- 
tion or movement, and no activities could be undertaken. 
Instruction had to be given through the ear alone, and 
helpful associations through the use of the eye and hand 
could not be established. 

The children behaved as one might expect. They banged 
the street doors, for what little child will stop in a dark 
hall to close doors quietly? They hurried and scurried 
through the hall, for with the child, darkness and unusual 
surroundings are incitements to fear. They arrived some- 
what breathless. 

There were no pictures in the primary room at which 
the children who came early might look. There were no 
handwork supplies to distribute or other preparations to 
make for the approaching session. There was nothing for 
these children to do after they had greeted the superintend- 
ent, had reported to the secretary, and had deposited their 
offering in the basket; so they found occupations of their 
own choosing. On this particular Sunday they raced each 
other around the chairs in the adjoining room or amused 
themselves by removing the hymn books from the racks, 
opening them to the center, then snapping them shut with 
terrific force and much noise. Their play was poor prepa- 
ration for a service of worship. 

In striking contrast to this primary room is another in 
a small chapel in a suburban district. The approach to the 
chapel is up a winding path between well-kept lawns. A 
wide door gives entrance into a small square hall with 
plenty of light. The floor of this hall is tiled. The wood- 
work is polished oak. The walls are tinted a light buff. 

The children may race to the chapel, they may play all 
the way to the door, as children will even on Sunday; but 
at the door a marked change is to be noticed in their be- 
havior. They cease from play. The boys remove their 
hats, and boys and girls pass into the primary room at the 
right of the hall quietly and with a dignity of manner 
that is admirable. Such manner does not proceed from 



A PRIMARY ROOM AND ITS EQUIPMENT 117 

instruction alone, for even the most thoughtful children 
will at times forget to do as they have been told. There 
is little doubt that the children act unconsciously, and that 
their conduct is a natural response to feelings aroused by 
the dignity of the building and by its beautiful interior. 

The chapel is the place where the children meet on God's 
day, where their love for him is stirred, and where they 
express their love, gratitude, and dependence in song and 
in prayer. These associations deepen the children's feel- 
ing of reverence for their Sunday school, and since other 
children who have not these associations with the building 
have shown reverence upon coming into it, one cannot but 
conclude that the building has much to do in calling forth 
this feeling in the children who attend Sunday school 
there. 

It is said, "To develop a spirit of reverence is to develop 
a capacity for religion." If the Sunday-school surround- 
ings can aid in doing this, it follows that the room in 
which sensitive, impressionable, and responsive children 
meet for religious instruction and worship is of great im- 
portance and should receive' consideration. If it does not 
measure up to requirements, it should be remodeled; and 
in these days it is astonishing what can be accomplished 
where there is the understanding and determination to 
provide for the children the equipment and surroundings 
that are desirable. 

3. A remodeled primary room. The room has been 
remodeled from one of the old type — that is, one that was 
separated from other rooms by glass partitions. Sound- 
proof partitions have been substituted for the glass. The 
doors open not into other rooms but into a hall with wide 
stairs having low and easy lifts, for in this building the 
beginners' and primary rooms are on the second floor above 
the entrance hall and the junior room. It was only by 
placing these rooms on the second floor that large, light, 
and airy rooms could be had. 

The woodwork is Mission; it is without unnecessary 



118 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

moldings to catch and hold the dust and has been stained 
a warm brown. The windows on two sides of the room 
have clear glass and good shades. Across the back is a 
large cupboard for supplies. With its glass doors and good 
lines it resembles a built-in bookcase. The room is equipped 
with a good piano, a blackboard, a table for the superin- 
tendent's Bible, songbooks, and other equipment, and class 
tables stained the color of the woodwork, each table ac- 
commodating from six to eight pupils. There are also 
chairs of different heights, so that children who are taller 
and those who are shorter may sit in correct positions and 
be comfortable. Children should sit easily erect and with 
their feet resting upon the floor. Chairs might seem to be 
a minor consideration, but they are not; for incorrect and 
uncomfortable positions make for disorder, inattention, and 
irritability. It is most desirable that both children and 
teachers should remove cloaks and hats before the class 
session. In this way greater physical comfort is assured, 
and fussing and restlessness are done away with. Unfor- 
tunately, the room being described has not a cloakroom. 
But a place for the children's outdoor garments is provided 
by means of a shelf about a foot wide and about four feet 
from the floor, extending along the side of the wall nearest 
the door leading into the halls. Under the shelf are two 
rows of hooks, and from the edge of the shelf a brown 
denim curtain has been hung, that the children's hats and 
coats may not be in evidence during the class session. 

The floor of the room is of hard wood and is uncarpeted. 
A large grass-matting rug in shades of brown or two or 
three smaller rugs would give an effect of finish and com- 
fort, and some time will be purchased; but at present the 
floor is shellacked and may be kept clean with a mop and 
water, which is a great improvement over dust-laden car- 
pets. 

The walls are white and there are no pictures, for first 
things have had to come first; but a fund is accumulating, 
and soon the walls will be tinted, and several good pic- 



A PRIMARY ROOM AND ITS EQUIPMENT 119 

tures will add to the attractiveness of the room and speak 
to the children as only those silent teachers can. 

4. Influence of an orderly room. It is interesting to 
watch -the children upon their arrival. They dispose of 
their hats and coats, then pass to their chairs and settle 
down for work. They seem to recognize that the room i& 
a schoolroom — and that is what it is; for it is complete 
in its detail and equipment and is admirably adapted for 
instruction and study. The opportunity offered by the 
children's attitude is recognized, and there is something 
for the children to do from the moment they enter the 
room. The early comers assist in distributing supplies, 
arranging flowers, and performing other acts of helpfulness. 
Upon the arrival of the teachers memory verses are re- 
cited, credits are recorded, and unfinished handwork is 
completed. At the time for beginning the session there 
is quiet music, followed by the service of worship. 

At the close of Sunday school the children go into church 
to places reserved for them. They do this so that they 
may come under influences similar to those which are felt 
so keenly by the children who attend Sunday school in 
the chapel that has been described. These are the archi- 
tecture and the lights, the instrumental music, and an at- 
mosphere of worship. The feeling of reverence is made 
acute by all these things, by the act of uniting with others 
in a song of praise and in prayer, and by listening to a 
few earnest words spoken by the pastor. Then a reces- 
sional is sung by the choir and congregation, and the 
younger children retire to go home. The older pupils re- 
main for the church service. 

Not all primary rooms lend themselves to complete re- 
modeling, but certain improvements can be made in rooms 
that are not all that they may ba The rooms can be kept 
clean and in order. Floors can be stained and shellacked 
if they may not be tiled or softly carpeted, or a linoleum 
may be laid. The color scheme can be harmonious. There 
may be a place for supplies, and supplies may be kept in 



120 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 






order and in repair. Ingenuity and originality will dis- 
cover some arrangement for the children's outdoor gar- 
ments. If pictures may not be hung upon the walls, 
mounted pictures may be placed each Sunday upon a screen 
to make a bright attractive spot where the children will 
delight to gather. 

In addition to a clean and orderly primary room there 
should be orderly methods of procedure. A wise leader 
calls the department to order by means of music that will 
induce a feeling of quietness, a readiness of mind, and a 
spirit for the service of worship. The one who understands 
how much may be said to children through music prepares 
them for their class work, calls them to attention, and dis- 
misses them, not with the ringing of bells or disturbing 
signals, but by means of the piano. 

"Music can noble hints impart, 



With unsuspected eloquence can move 
And manage all the man with secret art." 

In addition to being an aid in creating proper conditions 
for teaching, music can awaken the child's soul and help 
him to be reverent. 

5. Adequate equipment. For the teachers to do their 
part well there must be an adequate teaching equipment. 
This consists of supplies necessary for handwork — such 
as pencils, crayons, paste, and paper for mounting and 
drawing, a good pencil eraser, and a pair of scissors for 
each class. In addition there should be pictures for class 
use, 1 notebooks if they are required, teachers' class records, 2 
and such general requisites as class teachers' boxes or 
baskets, 3 teachers' textbooks, and pupils' folders and folder 
covers. 



1 See ''Primary Picture Sets," Numbers 1 to 3, and "Primary 
Missionary Picture Set." Appendix B. 

2 See "Primary Record of Credit." Appendix B. 

3 See Chapter II for the use of these. 



A PRIMARY ROOM AND ITS EQUIPMENT 121 

6. Securing needed equipment. The larger responsi- 
bility for securing the proper conditions and equipment for 
teaching and creating the proper atmosphere is that of the 
department superintendent. It is the primary superintend- 
ent who must keep before her the vision of the ideal and 
work toward it. It is she who must lead and inspire the 
teachers and the children. To obtain results, however, 
it is necessary that the teachers cooperate and aid in every 
particular. 

It is the teacher's part to be instantly obedient to every 
signal, to take part in all the exercises, to be reverent in 
spirit and manner, to show courtesy to the superintendent 
and to the children, to be willing to accept advice, to follow 
directions, and to do^ all these things in the spirit of willing 
service for the Master. 

The cooperation of the children is also to be won. In 
one way and another each child must be given a sense of 
responsibility in maintaining order, in participating in the 
worship, and in the interchange of kindly deeds. Each 
needs to realize that he has a place and share in working 
for the good of the whole, and that any failure to perform 
his part affects others. The child may be brought to this 
realization not so much by teaching as by that subtle some- 
thing in the atmosphere which prevails where there is 
unity of spirit and purpose on the part of officers and 
teachers. 

7. The supreme necessity. It is in the Primary Depart- 
ment where there are perfect accord, cooperation, worship, 
fellowship, kindly deeds and words that the Christ atmos- 
phere is most apparent. Such an atmosphere is a most 
necessary condition for teaching. It is said, "A Christ 
atmosphere is a mighty power in bringing men to Christ." 
If it is such a power in bringing men to the Saviour, what 
may it not be in bringing the children? To bring the 
children to the Saviour and to help them to live lives of 
Christian service is the true purpose of the Primary 
Department. 



122 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Handling the pictures, handwork materials, and other 
requisites for teaching, and helping to care for these call 
forth a sense of ownership and responsibility. What, there- 
fore, is it desirable to ask one or two or a class of the 
older children to do each Sunday after the Sunday-school 
session? 

2. Of what value will it be to the children to learn that 
the primary room should not be left with chairs disar- 
ranged, the floor and table littered with paper, pencils and 
other equipment returned to the supply closet in poor con- 
dition, unused folders tucked anywhere out of sight, the 
used blackboard uncleaned; but that the room should 
be put in order and everything made ready for the next 
session? What arrangement would you make so that the 
burden of caring for the room might not fall entirely upon 
any one teacher, and that the children might have a sense of 
responsibility for the room? 

3. Describe a primary room that you have seen which 
is inadequate for its purpose. Give detailed recommenda- 
tions for its improvement and state which you would carry 
out first if all the changes might not be made at the 
same time. In choosing a color scheme state whether the 
room receives its light from north, south, east, or west, 
and at what time of day the primary class session is held. 



CHAPTER XX 
HOW TO MAINTAIN INTEREST 

An eight-year-old boy, upon returning from Sunday 
school one Sunday, announced to his family, "I do not want 
to miss Sunday school these days; the lessons are so in- 
teresting." At another time, in a different Sunday school, 
a class for week-day instruction was arranged for all the 
children of the Primary Department who cared to attend. 
Between twenty and thirty children were present at the 
first session. At the close of the hour the leader of the 
class inquired if there were any questions. Immediately 
one of the girls rose and asked, "When do you want us 
again?" The next week and the weeks that followed she 
was present, and the attendance on the part of the other 
children was almost as regular. 

1. Interest the vital factor. As far as is known the 
children's parents neither urged nor insisted upon their 
attendance. Like the boy who did not want to miss Sunday 
school,, the children were present because they found the 
class work interesting and pleasurable. They had no idea 
that they were being instructed. All that they were con- 
scious of was that they were having a delightful time lis- 
tening to stories, dramatizing them, and making scrap- 
books to keep or to give away at Christmas. But by means 
of the stories the children were brought into closer rela- 
tion with other persons. Their sympathies were deepened, 
and they received suggestions for conduct. In order to 
dramatize the stories — for the manner of playing them 
was left almost entirely to the children — they were obliged 
to think themselves into them. This gave them a sense of 
oneness with the characters. They were obliged to visualize 

123 



124 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

conditions and to appreciate motives in order to decide 
what to do and how to do it. • 

In making the scrapbooks the children worked to an idea 
or project. It was to make books that would picture and 
describe things for which they were thankful. A large 
number of pictures of different subjects were provided, and 
it was interesting to watch the children make their selec- 
tions. One boy in particular decided that he was thankful 
for food, and he gave much study to his picture, trying 
first one and then another on the page; for to please him 
it had to be not only the subject he desired but nicely 
fitted to the space into which it was to be placed. There 
were children who drew pictures and others who wrote; 
for each child, as long as he kept to the project, was left 
free to express himself in his own way. 

Several adults who were present to observe the class 
work remarked with something of surprise that the chil- 
dren were so well-behaved. There were no irregularities 
of conduct and no need for discipline. The children were 
so interested in their undertaking and were so concentrated 
upon it that they had no thought or time for mischief or 
wrongdoing. 

2. How interest may be maintained. Not all the chil- 
dren showed the same eagerness, originality, or skill. Some 
worked slowly and thoughtfully, and others with a dash 
and less thought; but on the part of all there was atten- 
tion to that which was being done, as well as satisfaction 
in the results. Herein lies the secret of maintaining inter- 
est in the Primary Department. A false, emotional inter- 
est may be created by contests, prizes, tickets for attend- 
ance, and other bribes. But such have no lasting effect. 
Readers of the chronicles Of. Emmy Lou * will recall how she 
attended church fifty-two Sundays in succession, listened 



1 Emmy Lou's Road to Grace, George Madden Martin : Chapter 
VII, "Pink Tickets for Texts." See also Emmy Lou: Her Book and 
Heart. The two hooks have heen written to show how, in a child's 
contact with life in the home, Sunday school, and public school, 
there are many conditions that make for confusion in the child's 
mind and affect his development of character. 



HOW TO MAINTAIN INTEREST 125 

to fifty-two sermons that she did not understand, and 
learned and recited fifty-two Golden Texts in order to 
receive a prize. On the fifty-third Sunday she was given 
a book of sermons by her pastor, whereupon she wept long 
and bitterly, then proceeded home after Sunday school in- 
stead of going; to church and lost all interest in texts. 
Albert Eddie Dawkins, Emmy Lou's friend and neighbor, 
who also acquired a book of sermons, went on his fifty- 
third # Sunday to the woods in search of honey locusts. 

False incentives are unworthy of the child; his enthu- 
siastic cooperation is to be won only by the right teaching 
situations. These include proper equipment and instruction 
suited to the child's development and needs, given in a way 
to lead him to be self-active with regard to what is pre- 
sented to him. 

The methods used should quicken the child's observation, 
lead him to take the initiative and develop his will power. 
Once we seated children in formal rows before us and 
gave instruction from the platform or desk. The teacher 
told the story and gave the explanations, for it was she 
who did all or the larger part of the talking; it was she 
who drew the pictures upon the blackboard or constructed 
them upon a sand table; it was she who did whatever writ- 
ing was required. The children's part was to listen and 
observe. 

To-day the children of the Primary Department sit in 
small groups or classes around tables. A class teacher is 
in charge of each group, but it is now the teacher's part 
to do nothing for the children which they may do for 
themselves. Children are encouraged to ask questions and 
to talk with the teacher and among themselves about the 
lesson and its relation to their daily problems and duties. 
If there are explanations or descriptions they may give, 
the children give them and not the teacher. 2 They are 
given the opportunity for telling what they would 



2 See Chapter II and the use made by the teacher of the lesson 
picture. 



126 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

like to do to express the lesson; and as far as possi- 
ble each child is permitted to carry out his own idea. 
The teacher observes and listens, giving suggestions when 
appealed to and direction only when it is required, for the 
most important factor in the learning process is self-activ- 
ity. It is when the child gives attention to that which is 
presented to him, concentrates upon it, and exercises initia- 
tive, originality, and judgment in relating it to himself 
and his conduct that he most truly learns. 

Similarly, in the service of worship in the Primary De- 
partment the children not only listen but take an active 
part. There are opportunities for the children to choose 
songs, to suggest the subjects for prayer, and to frame the 
prayers. In this way the worship becomes an expression 
of the child's own religious feelings and experiences and 
at the same time gives him the training in worship which 
he needs. 

3. An example of interest. In a certain Primary De- 
partment on a Sunday preceding Thanksgiving the chil- 
dren had been thinking and talking about God's good gifts, 
his love and care, and ways in which children might show 
love and gratitude to him. The signal, quiet music on the 
piano, had been given for the assembling of the classes; 
and teachers and pupils sat facing the leader, the primary 
superintendent. 

"Sunday school is almost over," the latter explained, 
"but before we go to our homes let us speak to God to- 
gether. I want the prayer to be your prayer. Tell me 
how you would like to begin it and what you would like 
to say." 

One child rose and said, "Let us begin with the words 
'Our Father/" 

Another said, "I would like to say, 'Our Father who art 
in heaven/ " And this salutation was written on the 
board. 

Then first one child and another gave a clause or sen- 
tence. The prayer was formulated without the assistance 



HOW TO MAINTAIN INTEREST 127 

of the superintendent. Then teachers and children read 
it aloud with reverence and deep feeling. It was as fol- 
lows: 

"Our Father who art in heaven, we thank thee for all 
thy blessings, the Bible, our Sunday school, our homes, our 
food. We thank thee for people and for our fathers and 
mothers, sisters and brothers. Amen." 

Appropriate prayers may be used for several Sundays 
or may be kept for occasional use. Those for other than 
opening and closing services — for example, the birthday 
and offering— may be prepared by the children instead of 
for them. It is desirable for the children to unite in re- 
peating a prayer and for the superintendent or teacher 
directing the worship to lead. For use at home the chil- 
dren should be encouraged to write or mount copies of the 
prayers in their notebooks. 

In the Primary Department where the children, under 
proper guidance, take the initiative they have no time for 
mischief; moreover, they quickly learn that if they waste 
time they forfeit much that is pleasurable. Orderly ways 
of doing and of thinking and a reverent manner may be 
cultivated through regulative and formative methods of 
procedure. 

4. Aids to interest. Other aids in maintaining inter- 
est are special days, or occasions such as Thanksgiving, 
Christmas, Easter, Children's Day, Promotion Day, national 
holidays, and the children's birthdays. These are the times 
when the children may be brought together for cooperative 
play at parties or socials and for cooperative service for 
the church and community; they may be made happy by 
postcards and letters and by surprises of various kinds. 
One of the values of such special celebrations is that the 
children learn to look to the church and Sunday school 
for their pleasure instead of to outside agencies; another 
is in leading children, with their different training and in- 
terests, to work together for the welfare and happiness of 
others. 



128 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

The ways of celebrating these special occasions are so 
various that teachers must look to current magazines, to 
programs offered by denominational publishing houses, to 
books describing children's plays and games, to storybooks, 
to books and magazines giving pantomimes and pageants 
and suggestions for construction work and occupations. 
Books of this nature are to be found in most public libra- 
ries. The Primary Department budget should make possi- 
ble the buying of one good book each year and include the 
subscription price to a high-class magazine of Christian 
education. There should be a fund for birthday cards, 
materials and supplies for the children's socials, and other 
aids to maintaining the interest that is essential to suc- 
cessful teaching in the Primary Department. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Begin a primary scrapbook. It is advisable for it to 
be a looseleaf one, so that additions and eliminations may 
be made. Send to your denominational publishing house 
for samples and price lists of the primary teachers' and pu- 
pils' lesson helps and for a catalogue of primary equip- 
ment and supplies. If the samples can be mounted, mount 
each one upon a page by itself, and beneath or beside it 
write its price, stating whether or not the price includes 
postage or express. 

If the samples cannot be mounted, and a picture of the 
textbook, pupils' folder, or birthday card is not available, 
make notes of these different things and add whatever 
description is necessary and the price. Proceed in a similar 
way with other requisites until you have made a primary- 
equipment book. Leave pages for the addition of new sam- 
ples of supplies or literature describing them. 

2. With the primary equipment book as a guide make up 
a primary budget for one year. State the number of 
teachers' textbooks, the number of picture sets, and the 
number of pupils' helps that will be required for the first-, 
second-, and third-year classes, and give their cost. Esti- 



HOW TO MAINTAIN INTEREST 129 

mate your handwork equipment, find out how many birth- 
day cards you will require during the year, and estimate 
the cost. Estimate the cost of such added supplies as you 
may need, the expense attached to the giving of socials; 
to purchasing materials for constructive work, promotion 
certificates and diplomas, and all the requisites of a well- 
conducted Primary Department. 3 

3. To continue the study begin a scrapbook of ideas for 
special days and occasions. Write and decorate an at- 
tractive invitation to a children's party or social, outline 
the games you would play, and give the title of the story 
you would tell. 

Suggest some act of helpfulness or service to the com- 
munity which might be rendered by the older primary pu- 
pils in cooperation. 

Leave pages for patterns for invitations, calendars, book 
covers, cut-out toys, and other things that primary children 
may make. Leave pages for new programs for special 
days and occasions. 



3 See Appendix B. 



CHAPTER XXI 
PROMOTIONS AND PROMOTION REQUIREMENTS 

In preceding lessons statements have been made in ex- 
planation of the results at which the Primary Department 
aims, and which it seeks to accomplish by its instruction, 
activities, and worship. These imply that when a child 
is promoted from the Primary Department, it is desirable 
that he shall have started to form right habits of feeling, 
thinking, speaking, and conduct, all of which are funda- 
mentals of Christian character. 

1. The teacher and promotion. Promotion require- 
ments are for the teacher before they are for the pupil. 
Habits the child should form cannot be required of him, 
nor should he be made to remain in the Primary Depart- 
ment until he manifests them. Hence, they should be 
regarded not as promotion requirements for the pupil but 
for the teacher, in that her effort should be to get these 
habits started and to strengthen them by means of all the 
agencies and influences at her command. 

The teacher should give aid when the home fails. The 
value to the child of having an appropriate Bible verse 
associated with a Bible story has been explained. 1 The 
child should learn his memory verse. Usually, the memo- 
rization of a verse is begun in the lesson period at Sunday 
school but is not perfected. That he may form the habit 
of Bible study the child is asked to learn it at home after 
the lesson story has been read to him or after he has read 
it for himself. The child who cannot read requires assist- 
ance. If he is to do any home work, the cooperation of the 
home is necessary. Failing in this, the teacher should give 
additional time to the child at Sunday school and help him 



1 See Chapter VIII, page 59. 

130 



PROMOTION REQUIREMENTS 131 

learn the memory verses. As soon as he has the ability to 
rea( i — an d this may be expected the last half of the seventh 
year or some time in his eighth year — he may be made to 
feel that he can do his home work unaided. He is apt to 
forget it because the habit of home study is not fixed; he 
therefore needs frequent reminders of what to do. 

It is important for the child to do each week's work as 
it is assigned. Each week the teacher should make clear 
to the child what his home work is and should arouse such 
interest in it that he will be eager to undertake it. Sun- 
day by Sunday, as a part of the lesson review, she should 
ascertain by questions, conversation, story-telling exercises, 
and recitations whether or not he did his work during the 
week. He should be helped to find pleasure in the result — : 
that is, in his ability to do the work and in its successful 
accomplishment. It has been said: "Rewards and high 
marks are at best artificial aims to strive for; they accus- 
tom children to expect to get something besides the value 
of the product for work they do. . . . Success gives a glow 
of positive achievement; artificial inducements to work are 
no longer necessary; and the child learns to work from 
love of the work itself, not for a reward or because he is 
afraid of punishment." 2 

A young child's efforts will be spasmodic because there 
are occasions when duty of any kind is irksome, and inter- 
est flags. If the teacher is watchful and sympathetic, she 
will follow some new method at these times, make use of 
attractive devices, prepare a pleasing surprise, make a 
fresh appeal. Then the child will of his own accord resume 
his home study. Another reason why he should do this is 
that he may learn not to evade duty but to fulfill it. 

Lesson assignments should be made in accordance with 
the child's ability. Besides the memory verses there are 
other longer Bible passages, certain hymns, and prayers 
that a child is capable of learning in the three years spent 
in the Primary Department. These are associated with 



2 Schools of To-Morrow 3 Dewey. 



132 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

Bible stories that exemplify and vitalize them, or which 
they illustrate or illumine, and are called correlated les- 
sons. For example: Psalm 23 is memorized at a time 
when stories about David are being told, and the Lord's 
Prayer is learned after the story "Jesus Teaching His Dis- 
ciples to Pray." Psalm 23 and the Lord's Prayer are cor- 
related lessons. 

The learning of Bible verses is not required in the Be- 
ginners' Department; the week-by-week memorization of 
a Bible verse is something new and sometimes difficult for 
the first-year pupil in the Primary Department. For this 
reason the memory verses of the first-year course of study, 
together with a Christmas carol or hymn and a few other 
songs, constitute the first-year memory work. 

In his second year in the department a pupil is capable 
of learning two or more hymns, the memory verses of his 
course of study, and two or more longer Bible passages. 
The greater number of the correlated lessons should be 
left for the third and last primary year. 

The memorization that most pupils can accomplish dur- 
ing the three primary years is as follows: 

Year One: 

The memory verses of the first year course of study, or 
as many of these verses as the pupil can learn without 
strain. 

Song: Can a Little Child Like Me? 

Hymn: Luther's Cradle Hymn (Away in a Manger). 
Additional memory work for the more rapid pupils: 

Songs: Little Lambs So White and Fair; God's Work 
(All things bright and beautiful). 

A prayer for the pupil's use at home. 
Year Two: 

The memory verses of the second year course of study 

Psalm 100. 

Luke 2: 8-14. 

Selected commandments. 



PROMOTION REQUIREMENTS 133 

Songs: Little Town of Bethlehem; The Sweet Story; 
(I think when I read that sweet story of old) ; Jesus Loves 
Me. 

A morning and evening prayer. 

A grace to say at meals. 
Additional memory work for the more rapid pupils. 

Psalms 46: 1; 62:8a; Job 14: 2, 3; selected Psalm verses 
about the sea, day and night, seedtime and harvest. 

Songs: Jesus, Friend of Little Children; A Song of 
Service (To give, to love, to serve, to do). Father, Lead 
me Day by Day. 

A Temperance Song. (We have a part in God's great 
plan). 

Year Three: 

The memory verses of the third year course of study. 

Psalm 23. 

Psalm 100 in review. 

Luke 2: 8-14 in review. 

The Lord's Prayer. 

Mark 16: 1-7. 

Songs: O Come, All Ye Faithful; Love's Lesson (Savior, 
teach me Day by Day). 

A morning and evening prayer. 

A grace to say at meals. 
Additional memory work for the more rapid pupils. 

Matthew 2: 1-12. 

Luke 10: 25-27. 

Proverbs 3: 5, 6. 

Selected Bible verses with a temperance application. 

Song: Lord, Who Lovest Little Children. 

Children differ from one another in ability. At one time, 
and not so many years ago, this memory work would have 
been required for promotion. It would not have been con- 
sidered just to give a diploma to a pupil who had not given 
a creditable recitation of the greater part, if not all of it. 
To-day it is recognized that children differ from one an- 



134 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

other in their ability to memorize, and that there are other 
individual differences. One child grasps the incidents in a 
story and is able to retell it after hearing it once; another 
child fails miserably every time he is asked to retell a 
story. One child excels in handwork; another is slow and 
awkward and cannot express himself in drawing, writing, 
or any kind of manual work. This means that each pupil 
should be permitted to do what he has the ability to do and 
to have the pleasure that comes from achievement. At 
the same time he should be encouraged and helped to un- 
dertake the difficult or unpleasant task and to succeed in 
it as far as he is able. A pupil should not be permitted to 
say, "I cannot do this," and to give up trying; he should 
realize that he is expected to do his best because it is some- 
thing that he needs to do and to. learn, and he should be 
commended for the effort he makes if he is not wholly 
successful in the result. 

2. Pupil requirements. There are promotion require- 
ments for the pupil. The fitness of the pupil for promotion 
from grade to grade within the Primary Department and 
from the Primary to th,e Junior should not depend on his 
ability to recite all the memory verses that are desirable 
for him to know or all the correlated lessons. The deter- 
mining factor should be the pupil himself, his need of the 
experience, instruction, and training of the next grade, and 
his ability to pursue the studies and to make response. 

If he is ready for the lessons of the next grade, if he 
needs them, he should be promoted and given a certificate 
of promotion. There are reasons why one child excels in 
doing one thing, and another child something else. Chil- 
dren of primary age are too young to understand these 
reasons and to overcome obstacles that may be hindering 
them from making progress in their studies. They should 
not be made to suffer for what they may not be able to 
help; therefore the children to be promoted should be 
treated alike, and all should receive certificates. 

It is equally desirable that the children who have been 



PROMOTION REQUIREMENTS 135 

faithful and have made effort when others have not should 
receive the encouragement of special recognition. The cer- 
tificates and diplomas should provide for this. Seals or 
stars may be used to indicate each pupil's standing — that 
is, the work he has done through the year — or seals may 
be attached to the ribbon with which his diploma is tied. 
The newer forms of diploma carry a statement to the 
effect that the pupil therein named is promoted to the 
next grade and have space for assigning honors for memory 
verses, story-telling, home work, correlated lessons, and 
handwork. 

From our present understanding of the nature, needs, 
and abilities of the primary child it would seem as if the 
requirement for teachers and pupils alike should be the 
regular and conscientious performance of each week's task. 
These tasks may need to vary; but so far as possible, each 
week the memory verse or verses should be learned by the 
pupil. The correlated lessons should be memorized as they 
occur in the course. Memorizing should never be left to 
the end of the year or to just before promotion to the Junior 
Department. If the memory work is done when it should 
be done, if it is reviewed from time to time and made use 
of in the different services and exercises of the depart- 
ment, there will be no need for examinations, tests, or 
cramming for promotion. The pupils will then be ready 
for promotion and able to do the work of the next year 
or grade with understanding and appreciation. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. Read the memory work for the three years. 

2. Select or prepare a morning and evening prayer for 
a child and a grace for a child to say at meals. 

3. Ascertain what the promotion requirements are in the 
schools of your neighborhood. Compare them with the prin- 
ciples in this chapter, and if compelled to criticise adversely, 
state your reasons clearly. 



CHAPTER XXII 
THE PRIMARY DEPARTMENT AND THE HOME 

In most Sunday schools where the graded lessons are in 
use the annual Promotion Day is the last Sunday in Sep- 
tember. This practice makes it possible for the work of 
the new year to begin with the first Sunday in October. 
(The graded lessons start in October.) 

1. Awakening interest in home work. On the two 
or three Sundays that had intervened since Promotion Day 
a certain third-year teacher had assigned the home work 
but had not urged it. She hoped that her pupils would 
undertake it because it had become habitual to them to 
read the lesson story at home and to learn the memory 
verse each week. But for the two or three, Sundays that 
the pupils had been in her class they had not known the 
memory verse. The teacher suspected that they had made 
no use of the story in the folder. 1 She knew what needed 
to be done. She realized that when there is a task to be 
accomplished and it is not too difficult for the child, his 
interest and his zest for it are to be aroused. In bringing 
the day's lesson to a close she suggested to the children that 
since they were older and more capable than they were the 
year before there would be more interesting things for 
them to do. She referred to the handwork and to some of 
the activities that they would undertake as a class and 



1 In the Primary Department the pupils never prepare the new 
story or lesson for recitation. The home study is upon a lesson 
after it has been taught hy the teacher. The story read at home 
by the pupil should always be the one that has been told by the 
teacher. It is important for the elements of newness and surprise 
to enter into the teaching situation. If they do not, if the child 
knows the story the teacher is telling, his interest is not keen, 
and his attention wanders. It is important for the teacher to t-each 
the lesson first before it is studied by the child, that he may get 
from it the truth intended for him. 

136 



THE DEPARTMENT AND THE HOME 137 

then explained the home work. Instantly the children be- 
came like the guests bidden to the feast in the parable: 
with one accord they began to make excuse. One was 
obliged to deliver papers for her brother one or two after- 
noons a week; another had a baby sister at home to whom 
she gave her undivided attention each day after school; a 
third went regularly each afternoon to the store for her 
mother; the others had most pressing duties, which they 
urged as reasons for not giving time to study. Study was 
irksome to them. 

The teacher was sympathetic but unyielding. She told 
them she knew that they had many things to do at home 
to show love for mother, and was glad that they were such 
helpful children. She explained that it was partly because 
they T#ere so busy that there was so little studying to be 
done. She referred to the reading of the story as some- 
thing they would want to do because it was so interesting. 
She proposed different times for reading it — Sunday after- 
noon, Sunday evening, or some time during the week. Next 
she asked them to turn to the memory verse and read it 
aloud. She commented on the shortness of time the read- 
ing required and explained that it would take only that 
much time each day to read the memory verse once. She 
asked who had a drawer in a bureau or had a table beside 
the bed where the story folders might be kept. There 
was quick response to the appeal to the sense of ownership, 
and the children began to plan where to keep the folders 
and to read the memory verse each evening before they 
said their evening prayer. The thought was given that 
to do this would be like reading in the Bible. Finally the 
girls went home enthusiastic about taking upon themselves 
the duty of home study. 

2. Enlisting home cooperation. It is important for 
the Primary Department to enlist the cooperation of the 
home. The children who were given encouragement in the 
home, whose parents asked to have the lesson story read 
to them and inquired whether or not the memory verse, 



138 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

was being read each evening, were those who found it the 
easiest to form the home-study habit. It was much more 
difficult for the children whose parents were unsympa- 
thetic or indifferent. 2 Further confirmation of the need of 
home cooperation is to be found in the right acts at home, 
at school, and at play, to which so many of the lessons aim 
to inspire the child. 

The child spends only one hour a week in Sunday school; 
it is outside of Sunday school that he expresses his lessons 
in conduct. He goes home from Sunday school with a pur- 
pose to help, to be kind, to be patient, to be obedient, and 
to begin and end the day with prayer. Whether or not he 
does these things depends largely on the home. Many a 
child who offers assistance is told that he is more bother- 
some than helpful. It is not unusual for a contrar/ spirit 
to be aroused by uneven and unjust discipline. One day 
he is reprimanded for a bit of mischief that was found 
amusing the day before, or his intentions are misunder- 
stood, and he is called a bad boy when he was trying to be 
good. Sometimes parents permit a child who kneels in 
prayer to be ridiculed. What will the child do who has 
these difficulties to contend with? If he has a sturdy spirit, 
has a deep and sincere desire to do what is pleasing to 
God and a strong will, he may persevere and carry out his 
intentions. It is much more probable that he will abandon 
them. 

Frequently there are reasons for a lack of home coopera- 
tion. Parents are thoughtless or they do not understand 
what the child wants to do and is trying in an imperfect 
way to accomplish. They do not realize that he is acting 
in response to desires and impulses called forth by the 
teaching received at Sunday school; they know no reason 
why he should do these things and they do not give him the 
encouragement or the assistance that he needs. 

The right appeal to the parents will bring response. In 



2 See Chapter XV and the story about the hoy who wanted to 
give all the money in his bank for church and charitable purposes. 



THE DEPARTMENT AND THE HOME 139 

some way the home must be made to understand the pur- 
pose of the Primary Department, the reasons for and the 
value of its instruction, activities, worship, and of the 
child's response, and what the home may do to aid. 

When a teacher has an intimate acquaintance with the 
parents of her pupils, much may be accomplished by talk- 
ing over the purpose of instruction in the Primary Depart- 
ment and the responses that are desired. When teachers 
and parents are comparative strangers, it is wiser to hold 
a parents' and teachers' meeting or to present the need 
of the department for the cooperation of the home by 
means of a circular letter* If, after the meeting or letter, 
there may be a call in the home, conversation will follow 
about the child and what the Sunday school and home may 
do for him. Parent-teacher associations, parents' classes, 
mothers' classes, mothers' monthly or quarterly meetings, 
and parents' and children's birthday socials are some of the 
means for bringing parents and teachers together and 
making an interchange of ideas and help possible. A pro- 
gram is not difficult to arrange. A chapter in a book on 
child study or a lesson from this book may be read and dis- 
cussed. An address may be given by the primary super- 
intendent or a primary worker from some other church 
or community. For music the primary teachers may sing 
several of the children's songs to the parents, or parents 
and teachers may learn a song soon to be presented to the 
children. Parents should be able to ask questions and to 
talk together about the child in the home, in the school, 
and more particularly in the church and Sunday school. 
The meetings may be conducted like classes or may be 
informal, like socials. They may be held in the Sunday- 
school building or in some home. Refreshments may be 
served or there need be none. A fee or dues may be asked 
to cover expenses, or these may be met from school funds. 
There is no one way for doing any of these things; the 
method that brings success is the best for any Primary De- 
partment. The first essential is for the Primary Depart- 



140 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

ment to recognize its need of the home. To indicate this 
has been the purpose of this lesson. 

The Lesson Continued 

Some parents are indifferent; others are unable to at- 
tend meetings or to give attention to their children. Many 
parents feel that they send their children to Sunday school 
to be instructed and trained in religion, and that the re- 
sponsibility belongs wholly to the Sunday school. When 
these conditions exist, what may the Primary Department 
do to meet the needs of the child in relation (1) to read- 
ing the story in the folder and learning the memory verses? 
(2) learning the correlated lesson? (3) expressing the les- 
sons in conduct at home, at play, at school and in the com- 
munity? (4) securing materials for scrapbook and gift 
work? (5) caring for and serving in God's house? In an- 
swering these questions the teacher will find it an aid to 
recall or reread preceding lessons. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
THE DEPARTMENT ORGANIZED FOR WORK 

In a sense the whole world is at school taking lessons 
in organization. We are learning that the success of any- 
whole depends on the perfection of each part, the degree 
of perfection with which the parts will fit together to con- 
stitute the whole, and, finally, the assembling of the parts 
in such a way that they are brought together into syste- 
matic connection and cooperation. This is true whether the 
whole is a machine, a financial undertaking, a scheme of 
betterment for a people, or a world league for justice and 
righteousness. It remains to apply these principles to in- 
timate and personal-life problems. It will be found that 
they have application to the Primary Department of the 
Sunday school. 

1. Department and school. The Primary Department 
is one division of the church school. Occasionally one hears 
it said, as if in criticism, that the Primary Department has 
its own program of worship, its own course of study, and 
its own officers and teachers. This is as it should be, for 
the Primary Department is a part of the school, with a 
definite contribution to make to the whole. Its task is to 
continue the training and instruction begun in the Begin- 
ners' Department and to carry the pupil forward to the 
place where he is ready for the instruction and training 
of the department higher than the Primary. Take, for ex- 
ample, the course of study. That for the Primary Depart- 
ment should be a part of a larger scheme of instruction 
which the pupil begins in the Beginners' Department and 
in which he may continue to progress until he completes 
it in the Young People's Department. It is obvious that 

141 



142 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

if the primary course of study is not a section of a progres- 
sive course, or if the courses for the departments have no 
relation to each other, there is no organization in that 
school; there can be no fitting together of the parts, no 
building up of the whole, no one aim or purpose for the J 
instruction, and therefore no unity. This principle has 
similar application to the worship and activities. Unless 
there is a good reason why it should be otherwise — a reason 
involving the spiritual welfare of the primary child — the 
Primary Department should be systematically related to 
other departments and should cooperate with them. 

2. Organization within the department. There 
should be organization within the Primary Department. 
Different types of work are carried on within the depart- 
ment. There is the instruction, which is given by class 
teachers. There is the worship, which is conducted by the 
superintendent or other leader. There is the instrumental 
music, which is played by the pianist or organist. There 
are materials for handwork and teachers' and pupils' les- 
son equipment, which must be received, cared for, and dis- 
tributed. There are attendance, offering, and birthday 
records to be kept. Apply the principles of organization. 
It becomes apparent that there is need in the Primary De- 
partment of some one who understands the work in all 
its details and relations and who is capable of directing 
and unifying the parts. The one to undertake the super- 
vision should possess qualities that make a good leader 
and administrator. The title of "primary superintendent" 
is given to such a leader. 

Other officers "besides the primary superintendent are 
needed. One of these is the department secretary. It is 
the secretary's duty to keep an accurate record of the at- 
tendance and to report absences to the superintendent or 
school visitor. Some superintendents keep in close touch 
with the home and telephone to, correspond with, or call 
upon pupils who are absent. In other Primary Depart- 
ments the class teachers look up or get into communication 



ORGANIZED FOR WORK 143 

with absent pupils. In still other departments pupils are 
called upon by the church or Sunday-school visitor. When 
post cards are sent to a pupil who has been absent two 
Sundays in succession, it is usually the department secre- 
tary or the secretary's assistant who does this. 1 The 
secretary should record the name of each pupil, his age 
upon entering the department, the date of his birthday 
anniversary, his grade in public school from year to year, 
his address, and his father's name or initials. The card 
system is the best for keeping such a record. The super- 
intendent or secretary should keep a record of each pupil's 
credits and the progress made by him in his studies. The 
reasons for keeping such a record are given in Chapter XXI, 
"Promotions and Promotion Requirements. ,, If the teach- 
er's records are handed in and filed at the end of each 
quarter, they will furnish to superintendent or secretary 
the record desired. 

The easiest way to keep the birthday record is on cards 
filed in a card catalogue by months and under dates. Each 
month or week the secretary or assistant may look through 
the cards, learn which pupils will have a birthday during 
the coming week, and hand the names to the superintend- 
ent and class teachers. The weekly attendance may be 
kept in a book, on class cards, or in any way that will 
insure accuracy and ready reference and that will give 
the secretary of the school the week by week information 
he desires. If the department is large, it is advisable to 
have assistants to the secretary or a committee to share 
the work and responsibilities. The assistants may meet 
the pupils as they arrive at Sunday school, help them with 
their outdoor garments, in the absence of the secretary 
fill that position, or serve as substitute teachers in addition 
to helping the secretary keep and perfect her records. 

The office of musician to the department may be filled 



1 Absentee cards may be obtained from your publisher. They are 
attractive and will make the recipient feel that he is really wanted 
in Sunday school. See Appendix B. 



144 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

oy a teacher or substitute teacher or by a pianist or organ- 
ist who is responsible for nothing but for the music. The 
pianist and leader of the children's worship should work in 
harmony and closest cooperation. The leader should plan 
the services and choose the songs for each service, but the 
pianist should make the music a special study, discover 
new songbooks and songs, and make recommendations to 
the superintendent or leader of the worship. Each week 
the pianist should be in place at the beginning of the de- 
partment session with the songbooks to be used and a copy 
of the program or order of service which the leader will' 
follow. Then no time will be lost in beginning the session 1 
or in passing from one part of tlie service to another. If 
the leader of the worship has not a true singing voice, or 
if it has no carrying power, and if the pianist cannot play 
and sing at the same time, there should be some one to 
lead the singing. This leader may be a teacher, one who 
serves as a substitute teacher, a member of the work com- 
mittee, or one who has no duty other than that of teach- 
ing and helping the children to sing. 

Administrative committees have their advantages. Of 
first importance is the work committee. The members of 
this committee receive, file, keep in order, and, in some 
departments, distribute the handwork materials, the teach- 
ers' and pupils' equipment, and the secretary's supplies. 
In other departments each class teacher selects the hand- 
work material that she will require for the lesson period, 
the pictures, and the pupils' supplies. The selection is made 
before school. At the close of the session each teacher re- 
turns the materials and unused lesson helps to the files 
or supply cupboards. The members of the work committee 
may be young girls who are in training for teaching in the 
department, teachers, or substitute teachers. 

Other committees are the purchasing, the recruiting, the 
visiting, the social, and special-day. These titles indicate 
the duties of the committees. The department superin- 
tendent should be a member of all committees, assign the 



ORGANIZED FOR WORK 145 

duties to each, and be the one to whom the committees 
report. 

3. Building up the department. There should be 
some plan for recruiting new teachers and substitute teach- 
ers. When new teachers are needed, one turns first to the 
young graduates from the teacher-training class or to young 
seniors. Most young girls are sympathetic toward child 
life and in turn are found lovable and imitable by chil- 
dren. They are quick to think and act and have not lost 
their play spirit. If there may be developed in them a 
feeling of responsibility, a true appreciation of the aim of 
the Primary Department, and an enthusiasm for primary 
work, they make excellent teachers. If among them are 
those who are not members of the church, it is advisable 
to assign them to first- and second-year classes. The teach- 
ers of the third-year boys and girls should be those whose 
religious life is deep and strong, for the older primary 
pupils are influenced as much by a teacher's personality 
and conduct as by her lessons. 

In a large Primary Department, where there are several 
classes, it is advisable to have several persons who will 
substitute when called upon. In some departments there 
are as many substitute teachers as class teachers. Each 
class teacher is given the name, address, and telephone 
number of the teacher upon whom she may call in case of 
necessity. The substitute teacher has a copy of the teach- 
er's textbook, so that she may, unless called upon just be- 
fore school, prepare the lesson and teach it effectively. 
These substitute teachers are young mothers, members of 
adult classes, or members of the congregation who cannot 
attend Sunday school regularly but will teach upon occa- 
sion. 

In a small Primary Department where there are assist- 
ants to the secretary, a work committee, and where the 
pianist and leader of the singing will act as substitutes, it 
is seldom necessary to go outside of the department for 
substitute teachers. When there are these assistants, it is 



146 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

advisable to assign each one to a grade and to provide each 
with a textbook for lesson preparation. It should be under- 
stood that these assistants are to be called upon only when 
necessary and are to be given notice in time to prepare 
the lesson. One of the requirements for teachers, assistants, 
primary superintendent, and other officers is regularity in 
attendance. For other requirements the reader is referred 
to preceding lessons. 

The Lesson Continued 

1. If you were in a Sunday school that was to be newly 
organized for work and were appointed Primary superin- 
tendent, what would you aim to accomplish for the pupils? 

2. In order that your purpose might be realized in the 
best way, what equipment would you ask for (1) if the 
school was a small one? (2) if the school was large? 

3. How would you organize your department for work? 
What officers and committees would you think it desirable 
to have? Make a plan of organization for a department 
having twenty pupils, and another plan for a department 
having one hundred pupils. 

4. How would you provide for substitute teachers? 

5. How would you plan to keep your teachers in training? 



CHAPTER XXIV 
WHERE THE RESPONSIBILITY RESTS 

Old conditions are passing away. War has carried men 
and women to mountaintops and given them a vision of the 
walls and foundations of a new order. Like the walls of 
the new Jerusalem which John saw coming down out of 
heaven from God, those of the new order are great and high. 
In them, as a part of their construction, are all manner 
of precious things — an end of war, justice, brotherhood, and 
righteousness, burdens shifted from shoulders too weak 
to bear them, sickness banished and health established, 
life lifted and made a joyous thing, boys and girls playing 
in city streets and on playgrounds, peoples won to Christ, 
and the earth full of God's glory. 

There are those who say the vision is too fair, that it can 
never be realized. But men and women have given their 
lives that it might have the beginnings of reality. Upon 
these beginnings foundations are being laid. From among 
the almost numberless lines of research and effort let us 
select one — that which has most meaning for the primary 
teacher. 

During the war it began to be realized that the children 
of the nation are its greatest asset. The examining and 
testing of young men for service in the army and navy 
revealed weaknesses that were traceable to neglect in early 
childhood. Governments woke to the astonishing fact that 
the neglect of children "was silently doing damage hardly 
less great than enemy invasion." Plans were made for 
reforms to be instituted in child welfare and educational 
systems when the war should be over. In the United States 
one of the results of the war is an aroused national interest 
in matters affecting children. 

147 



148 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

Shortly after the armistice was signed, a noble group of 
Americans joined with representatives from Great Britain, 
France, Belgium, Servia, Italy, and Japan "to formulate 
standards of health, of nurture, of education, and a protec- 
tion against premature labor which possibly every govern- 
ment ought to assure to every child." 1 Science is to make 
it possible for children to be well-born, to have health, and 
to have their powers developed to the fullest capacity. 
Why? That the children may contribute to the success 
of the Nation. 

On the part of churches such movements as the Cente- 
nary and the New Era have been instituted. The aim is 
the fulfilling of the vision of all peoples brought to a knowl- 
edge of Christ. The hope and promise of its consummation 
are with the children; and it is now, in this present time, 
that a call and challenge come to the teacher. 

"And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; 
and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." 
(Eph. 4.11.) 

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him 
that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace." (Isa. 
52.7.) 

Religious instruction is not permitted in the public 
schools. It is only in the exceptional home that any at- 
tempt is made to give systematic and continuous religious 
instruction needed by growing children. In the minds of 
many parents there is uncertainty and confusion as to what 
should be taught and as to how religious teaching should 
be given; within the average family utterly inadequate at- 
tention is given to religious training. Hence, the respon- 
sibility for the religious education of the child rests largely 
upon the church and upon the Sunday school and upon each 
individual worker in it. The sense of personal responsi- 
bility which the teacher should feel is not to be a burden; 
it is rather a challenge which should spur to activity and 






1 Magna Charta of Childhood, Chenery. 



WHERE THE RESPONSIBILITY RESTS 149 

lead to joyous, consecrated service for childhood's and the 
Master's sake. 

1. What is required in a teacher. There are certain 
qualities that a child's teacher should possess. Among 
these are sympathy for child life — the ability to understand 
a child's point of view — and the motives from which he 
acts, and a love for children. This is something deeper than 
affection for the attractively dressed, dainty, and well- 
mannered child; it is a love that prompts concern for and 
a mothering of the unfortunate — the boy with impudent 
ways, grimy hands, worn clothes, and stubbed-out shoes, 
or the girl whose hair is untidy and who tells an untruth 
to avoid censure. The ability to be fair or just, to show 
no partiality, and to assure to each child his rights is an- 
other desirable trait for a child's teacher. 

There are certain elements of character that are desira- 
ble for a teacher. This is for the reason that a teacher 
teaches directly by the giving of instruction and also by 
the creating of environment and atmosphere and by per- 
sonality. The personality of a teacher is the whole teacher 
teaching. It is the teacher's faith making truth vivid and 
vital. It is the teacher's character imparting ideals to the 
child. It is the teacher's actions set up as a model for the 
child to imitate. 

The teacher is most imitable to the forming mind. The 
young child idealizes his teacher; what she says and does 
are just right, and when with her and away from her he 
imitates her. A student of child nature has said, "In so 
far as we exert unconscious influence over [the child] 
through our actions, words, and even our thoughts, and 
thus affect his point of view, we must realize the necessity 
of a high standard of life and thought for ourselves." 2 

The teacher's preparation for teaching should be con- 
tinuous. It can never be considered completed. Each new 
class will bring children to be studied. Each year will 



2 The Dawn of Character, Muroford. 



150 THE PRIMARY WORKER AND WORK 

bring contributions to the sciences of child study and 
pedagogy and will show applications of God's Word to life. 
Methods of teaching will change; courses of study will 
change. The teacher's attitude should be one of recep- 
tivity to that which is new and approved; her aim should 
be to find and use the best. This continued study will be 
a joy if her purpose is to be a coworker with God and to 
reach and affect child character and life. 

"Coworkers we with him! Were he to ask, 
'Come, star with me the spaces of my night, 
Or light with me to-morrow's sunset glow, 
Or fashion forth the crystals of my snow, 
Or teach my sweet June roses next to blow,' 
O rare beatitude! But holier task, 
Of all his works of beauty fairest high, 
Is that he keeps for hands like ours to ply! 
When he upgathers all his elements, 
His days, his nights, whole eons of his June, 
The Mighty Gardener of the earth and sky, 
That to achieve toward which the ages roll, 
We hear the Voice that sets the spheres atune, 
Help me, my comrades, flower this budding Soul!" 3 



3 By W. C. Gannett; used by permission. 



APPENDIX A 
Standard foe a Primary Department 

The standard for a Primary Department is that which 
it is possible for a child to become during the years of six, 
seven, and eight. 

What the child becomes manifests itself in conduct. 



Conduct. 
I. The conduct of the Primary child may manifest: 

1. Love, trust, reverence, and obedience to God the 
Father and Jesus Christ the Saviour. 

2. Recognition of the heavenly Father in daily life. 

3. Love for God through worship. 

4. Love and reverence for God's Book, God's day, and 
God's house. 

5. Increasing power to act in response to ever- 
enlarging ideas of what is right and desirable. 

6. Increasing spirit of obedience and helpfulness. 

7. Increasing power to give love and forget self in 
social relations. 

Aims. 
II. To realize these ends in conduct the child must have: 

1. A knowledge of God in his love, care, might, and 
power to give help and guidance. 

2. A consciousness of God as the heavenly Father 
and Jesus Christ as the Helper and Saviour. 

3. Experience and training in worship. 

4. Happy associations with God's Book, God's day, 
and God's house. 

5. Instruction concerning what is right and wrong, 
proper examples, and opportunities for choosing 
the right. 

151 



152 APPENDIX 

6. Opportunities for helpfulness. 

7. Opportunities for play and service in cooperation 
• with others. 

Means. 

III. As means for realizing these ends, provision should 
be made for: 

1. Religious instruction and religious experience suited 
to the children of Primary age, secured through: 

(a) The use of Primary Graded Lessons. 

(b) Graded Primary Supplemental Lessons with 
the Uniform Lessons when used. 

(c) The story method, with pictures, blackboard, 
and illustrative material. 

(d) Graded correlated Missionary instruction. 

(e) Graded correlated Temperance instruction. 

2. Worship which expresses the child's religious feel- 
ing, secured through: 

(a) Appropriate service of worship. 

(b) Reverent atmosphere and proper environment. 

(c) The teacher's spirit and manner. 

(d) Contact with nature. 

3. An environment which inspires order and rever- 
ence, and is conducive to worship and work, se- 
cured by: 

(a) A separate room (curtained or screened place, 
where a room is not available), light, and well 
ventilated. 

(b) Attractive decoration and arrangements. 

(c) Comfortable chairs and class tables. 

(d) Adequate material for teachers and children. 

(e) A separate program for entire session, where 
room is available. 

4. Opportunities for self-expression alone and with 
others, secured through: 

(a) Worship in song, prayer and Scripture. 

(b) Conversation, retelling of stories, recalling 
memory verses, and hand work. 



APPENDIX 153 

(c) Giving which includes Missionary offerings. 

(d) Unselfishness, self-control and acts of service. 

5, Teachers qualified by nature, training and religious 
experience, that is, teachers who 

(a) Possess a sympathetic understanding of child- 
life. 

(b) Have a personality attractive and helpful to 
children. 

(c) Seek frequent contact with little children in 
their home, school, and play life. 

(d) Are graduates or students in a Training 
Course, a Community Training School, or a 
School of Principles and Methods. 

(e) Are continuing their specialized training in a 
Graded Union or by the reading of one spe- 
cialization book a year. 

(f) Lead a sincere Christian life. 

6. Children six, seven, and eight years of age grouped 
into a class or department, according to age, inter- 
est, and ability: 

(a) In a small school a Primary Class separate 
from other classes. 

(b) In a larger school, a Primary Department, 
with a superintendent, officers, class teachers, 
and classes comprising not more than eight 
children. 

(c) Class groups: 

1. Children approximately six years years of 
age in first-year class or grade. 

2. Children approximately seven years of age 
in second-year class or grade. 

3. Children approximately eight years of age 

in third-year class or grade. 

(d) Promotion of children from grade to grade 
within the department; graduation from the 
Third Grade into the Junior Department, with 
recognition on the annual promotion day. 



APPENDIX B 

Primary Picture Sets 

Primary Picture Set, No. 1. The pictures of this set are 
thirty in number; size 8 by 10 inches. They are for use 
with Bible lessons, but with a few exceptions they are 
not biblical in subject. Their purpose is not to illustrate 
the Bible story, but to help the child to relate the story 
and its truth to his own life, that he may act in response 
to it. They are not sold singly or in parts. 

Primary Picture Set, No. 2. The pictures of this set are 
thirty-two in number. They are provided especially for 
use with the lessons of Year Two, but many of them 
may be used with other lessons of the Primary Course. 
They should be mounted attractively, that they may be 
preserved for permanent use. The pictures are sold only 
in complete yearly sets. 

Primary Picture Set, No. 3. The pictures of this set are 
twenty-four in number. They are provided especially for 
use with the lessons of Year Three, but many of them may 
be used with other lessons of the Primary Course. They, 
together with the pictures of Primary Sets No. 1 and No. 
2, are of a size that may be handled by the pupils. 

Primary Missionary Picture Set. The pictures of this set 
are twelve in number. They are provided for use with the 
missionary lessons in Year Two, Part Three, but may be 
used with other lessons of the Primary Course. 
154 



i 



APPENDIX 155 

Cards 

Birthday Cards: Form L. Sixth Birthday (girls) — Girls 

carrying bunches of flowers. 

Form M. Sixth Birthday (boys) — Boys waving banner. 

Form N. Seventh Birthday (girls) — Folding card. Bas- 
ket of violets. 

Form O. Seventh Birthday (boys) — Folding card. Three 
boys on roller skates. 

Form P. Eighth Birthday (girls) — Envelope card. Four 
leaf clover seal. Tinted stock. Verses illuminated in 
gold. 

Form Q. Eighth Birthday (boys) — Envelope card. 
Tinted stock. Birthday cake seal. Verses illuminated 
in gold. 

Absentee Post Cards. A new series of Absentee Post Cards, 
beautifully illustrated in colors, has been prepared. These 
will appeal to the pupils and increase the attendance. 

Record of Credit 

Primary Record of Credit. For use in the Primary Depart- 
ment in connection with the International Graded Lessons. 
A four-page folder for the use of teachers in recording 
the work accomplished by the pupil. 



INDEX 

Action, a revealer of character, 49 ; necessity of, 97 

Aim or purpose, 52 

Barclay, Wade Crawford, cited, 49 

Bible stories and verses, choosing of, 57 

Brown, Arlo A., cited, 49 

Busy work, attractive to children, 93 

Birthday service, the, 108, 112 

Chenery, Susan, quoted, 148 

Child, choices made by the, 35; directions and suggestions 
needed by, 35; questions asked by, 36; entrance of into 
Primary Department of public school, 39; suggestibility 
of the, 42; natural qualities of, 48; must be known by 
teacher, 49; initiative of, 53; meeting the needs of, 57; 
value of Bible verses to, 58; age of for entering Primary 
Department, 60; love of for a story, 62; effect of a story 
on the, 64; guiding the impulse of, 96 

Children, individual differences in, 22-26; home training 
reflected in, 40; inevitably suggestible, 44; observed at 
play, 47 

Christmas time, 43 

Childhood, interests of, 53 

Closing service, the, 109 

Characters, Christian, 46 

Construction work, 90 

Crayons, colored, loved by children, 91 

Curiosity, 46; appeal to, 52 

Dewey, John, quoted, 80 

Discovery, the child's beginning at, 30; imitation a form 
of, 32 

Experience, school, as a regular influence, 39 

Expression, importance of, 54 

157 



158 INDEX 

Feeling and impulse, significance of, 95 

Feelings, appreciation of the, 72 

Galloway, Thomas Walton, quoted, 47, 65 

Handwork as a method of teaching, 85; desirable forms of, 
90; how to test value of, 92; directing the, 93 

Habits, right, 49 

Holy Land, knowledge of the, 74 

Home, cooperation, enlisting, 137 

Home work, awakening interest in, 136 

Home, the, an agency of training, 40 

Interest, the vital factor, 123; how to maintain, 124; ex- 
ample of, 126; aids to, 127 

Imitate, the tendency to, 43 

Individualism, development of, 34 

Instruction, progress in, 55 

Interest, child's, necessity of first winning, 15 

Instruction, religious, 60; different kinds of in Sunday 
school, 108 

Kirkpatrick, Edwin A., quoted, 32, 33, 34; cited, 41 

Lesson, a, considered in relation to results accomplished, 18; 
the way in which is begun and ended, 19 

Memory verses, suitable, 58 

Life, importance of first three years of, 34 

McKeever, William A., 85 

Materials, choice of, 89 

McMurray, Charles Alexander, quoted, 68, 69 

Mental life, beginnings of, 30 

Mumford, E. E. R., quoted, 149 

Nurture, effect of on child development, 34 

Obedience, should be learned by child, 35 

O'Shea, William, quoted, 95 

Offering service, the, 107 

Period, the presocial, 32; primary, 41 

Persons, the influence of, 41 

Picture, a, use of in teaching, 16; how to judge a, 82 

Pictures, why used, 77; how used, 78 

Plockhorst, cited, 79 



INDEX 159 

Promotion, 130 

Promotion Day, 136 

Play, continuous occupation of child, 35 

Primary child, the, in the making, 30 

Purpose, definite, a, 47 

Primary Department, story of class in, 9; lesson teaching 
in, 55; course of study in, 58; worship in, 100; one di- 
vision of the school, 141; organization within, the, 142; 
building up the, 145; standard for a, 151 

Primary picture sets, 154 

Programs, examples of, 105-114 

Progressive course of study, importance of, 60 

Room, Primary, equipment of, 115; a remodeled, 117; orderli- 
ness in, 119 ; adequate equipment of, 120 ; securing needed 
equipment, 121 

Ruskin, quoted, 82 

Right appeal, importance of, 46 # 

Self-activity, arousing the child's, 16 

Self, development of consciousness of, 34 

Stage, imitating and socializing, 32; socializing discussed, 
33 

Stories, acquiring power to tell, 69 

St. John, E. P., cited, 35; quoted, 75 

Sunday school, questions relative to teaching in, 13, 20, 27, 
37, 44, 50, 55, 61, 66, 70, 83, 88, 99, 109, 114, 122; sugges- 
tions relative to Primary Department in, 94, 104, 128, 135 

Story, the interest in, 17; suggesting name for the, 18; 
impulses aroused by, 64; appeal and power of, 67; must 
be studied, 72; must be complete in detail, 73; prepara- 
tion for telling the, 73; make-up of the, 74 

Story-teller, the, requirements in, 67; qualities needed by, 68 

Sympathy, the influence of, 41 

Tendencies, innate, 44 

Teacher, attitude and manner of, 10; tested by children, 11; 
skilled, an hour with, 15; characteristics recognized by, 
34; ideals of, 40; what is required of a, 149 

Teachers, methods of contrasted, 86 



160 INDEX 

Teaching, importance of preparation for, 11; first experi- 
ence in, 11 

Valentine's Day, advantage taken of, 54 

Vocabulary, how obtained, 67 

Word-picturing, 67 

Words, new and unfamiliar, 67 

Worship, significance of children's, 100; training children 
in, 101; primary service of, 107 

Teaching, method of, influenced by knowledge, 26; use of 
pictures in primary, 77 

Themes, progress by, 58 



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